The Book of Moirai
by theriot010
Summary: A new threat is looming in Kanto. One that has the potential to change the world. Only an Aura Guardian has the power and heart to overcome this evil in its darkest form.
1. Chapter 1

**This is my first Pokemon story! This chapter is going to set up some pivotal parts of the story, and just establish the characters a bit. I hope you enjoy it!**

**Chapter 1 **

Ash and his two companions Brock, and Dawn, sat on the top deck of the S.S. Sinnoh on their way to Ash's Kanto home in Pallet Town. Brock and Ash had been friends since Ash's first journey through Kanto while Dawn was a new friend from Sinnoh. After competing in the Lily of the Valley Conference, otherwise known as the Sinnoh league, Ash had decided, after his loss in the final four to Tobias, that he wanted to go home to recuperate and prepare for his next adventure. Brock, also from Kanto, had jumped at the chance to return home while Dawn, who had never been to Kanto before, thought that this would be a great chance to see the foreign region. The relaxed silence that had settled between the three trainers was abruptly broken when Ash's best friend Pikachu jumped off of his spot on top of Ash's head and onto the railing overlooking the sea.

"What's up Pikachu?" Ash asked his friend.

"Pika pi pik pika!" Pikachu yelled back enthusiastically.

"It looks like Kanto just appeared on the horizon," Brock chimed in.

Upon hearing that, Dawn stood up excitedly accidentally dropping her piplup, much to his dismay, from her lap onto the ground. "Sorry Piplup!" She exclaimed apologetically as she scooped him up so he could get his first look at Kanto.

"You must be excited," Brock started, "it has been a while since we've been home."

"Yeah definitely!" Ash said gazing at his home region before thoughtfully adding, "I just wish I could see everyone. May and Max are off on an adventure of their own in the Unova region and I can't even remember the last time I saw Misty in person, but she has a gym to worry about."

Ash, being the loyal friend that he is, never lost touch with those he cared about. He always made time every once in a while to check up on May and Max and catch up with Misty via video phone in the Pokemon centers.  
Brock turned to Dawn and gave a small wink. Brock had talked to Delia Ketchum just the night before. Tomorrow was May 22, Ash's 19 birthday. Together, Brock and Delia had been organizing a surprise party and had made sure that all of Ash's close friends would be able to attend.

Turning back to Ash, Brock chuckled and said "Well you never know who you'll run into."

"Yeah," Ash responded with a sigh before brightening at the realization that he will get to see all of his other pokemon."I can't wait to introduce my other pokemon to my new ones!" Ash said completely forgetting about his previous notion as he paced back in forth impatiently waiting for the boat to dock.

* * *

By the time that the S.S Sinnoh had docked in Pallet town, the sun had set making way for the moon. Ash, Brock, and Dawn walked down the gangplank and onto the path that led to Ash's house. It was a beautiful moonlit night with a slight warm breeze. Small street lights lit the way causing shadows to dance on the front of Oak's lab as they walked past. If it weren't so late, Ash probably would have gone straight to the lab to visit his pokemon, but that would just have to wait until tomorrow.

As the trio arrived at Ash's front door, it swung open before anyone got the chance to knock.  
"Ash! I'm so glad you're home!" Delia cried out pulling her son into a loving hug and kissing him on the top of his head and then turning to Pikachu on Ash's shoulder, she did the same. "Come in, come in!" She continued moving out of the doorway and ushering everyone inside. Turning to the rock pokemon trainer she said "Brock, I'm glad you decided to come visit before going home!"

"Thank you for having me!" Brock said smiling.

"And you must be Dawn!" Delia said extending a hand.

"Yup that's me," she said accepting the handshake.

"Well you guys must be starving," Delia began, "Come to the kitchen, I'll heat you up some dinner while you tell me all about your journey in the Sinnoh region!"

After a hearty dinner, each person filtered off to bed, thoroughly beat after such a long day of travel.

* * *

The next morning, Ash awoke, slightly late, to the sun trying to burst through his closed shades. Getting out of bed, he drew back the shades allowing the sun to wake him up. Pikachu groggily rubbed his eyes before joining his friend, jumping up onto his shoulder.

"Pik pika pi pika pi?" Pikachu asked pointing to Oak's lab.

Understanding completely, Ash replied "Yeah sure, head on over, I'll be there soon."

His electric companion quickly jumped down to the ground and took off. After his shower and breakfast with his mother and friends, Ash also headed off towards Professor Oak's lab.

"Hey Professor!" Ash said happily.

"Hi Ash, I heard you were coming home and I've taken the liberty of giving all your pokemon a heads up. I'm sure they will all be ecstatic to see you!"

"Great! Thanks Professor!" Ash said as he briskly walked past Oak towards the back of the lab. After going through the door to the pokemon reserve, he stopped. All of his pokemon were out there playing or lounging about happily. Pikachu was chasing around Bulbasaur and Totodile, while Sceptile lay in the shade of a tree relaxing with  
snorlax. Kingler and Corphish were swimming around in the pond while on the bank, Quilava and Torkoal played with a soccer ball. Amongst others, Ash also spotted Bayleef, Heracross, and Muk resting in the field. It was quite a sight to see.

"Alright guys, come on out!" Ash yelled getting everyone's attention as they all ran excitedly to greet their trainer. Torterra, Infernape, Gible, Buizel, and Staraptor popped out of their pokeballs. "Everyone, I want you to meet-" Gliscor turned around to give Ash a hug, making Bayleef cringe, effectively smushing him into the ground. "GaH!" Ash laughed and stood back up. "Gliscor," he said pointing to the pokemon that just crushed him, "Torterra, Infernape, Gible, Buizel, and Staraptor." Everyone started to mingle making introductions and getting acquainted with each other. "Ok, so why don't you all show them around? I'll be back later. Mom said she had some errands that she wanted me to run! Bye guys!" As Ash turned around to leave, he could hear all the pokemon leading their new friends off to show them the wonders of the reserve. Speedily, Pikachu ran to catch up with Ash and launched himself onto his shoulder.

"Hey Pikachu," Ash said a bit startled, "you don't want to stay?"

As an answer to the question, Pikachu climbed on top of Ash's head and sat down.

"Ok! You can just come with me then!" Ash said enthusiastically, grateful for the company. "We have to go into town to get a few things," Ash said taking a list out of his pocket, " first off, we need to get...a haircut?"

"Pika?" The electric pokemon said sharing his trainer's confusion.

"Well, ok, if mom set it up for me I'd better not miss it." And the two set off towards town.  
It had been a while since Ash had been to Pallet Town and he had to admit, a lot of changes had been made. Instead of a quaint little town nestled next to the sea, there was a bustling city, well, a city compared to what Pallet used to be, Ash thought. Finding the barber shop, Ash and Pikachu walked in.

* * *

"Brock?" Delia yelled from the kitchen, "Will you please get the door!"

"Sure thing!" Brock called back. Opening the door he saw May, Max and Misty.

"Hey guys," Brock said smiling, "long time no see!"

As he was leading the three newcomers into the kitchen to see Delia, she popped her head out and said "May! Max! Misty! So good to see you all again! I hope you're all doing well! I hate to send you back out as soon as you get here, but can you go help Gary and Dawn with the setup for the party tonight? They are at Professor Oak's lab."

"No problem!" Misty said turning around and leading the way.

"Brock I'm gonna need you to stay and help me cook." Delia said dragging him into the kitchen.

* * *

Upon arriving to the lab, May, Max and Misty all greeted Dawn, Gary and Professor Oak. Some of the decorations had been put up already, but the remainder of them still needed to be put up and the table still needed to be set. So the group set to work.

"So, you must be excited to see Ash huh?" Gary said to Misty while they worked to put up streamers.

"Well of course I am!" Misty said, "He's one of my best friends!"

"Yup, that's all he is..." Gary said.

But before Misty could retaliate May came over and asked "Misty? Would you help me blow up the balloons? Max got bored and went outside to play with his and Ash's Pokemon."

"Yeah of course." Misty replied briskly walking away from Gary and his comment.

"Well, are you gonna tell him?" May whispered.

"Ughh, not you too!"

"Sorry! Sorry! It's just that you like him a lot don't you." May phrased as more of a statement than a question as she tied off a blue balloon.

After a short pause Misty responded, "Yeah, I do, but Ash is kinda...dense when it comes to this stuff."

"True, but you haven't seen him in a while and you never know, he may have matured..." There was a pause and then both girls laughed at the incredulous thought of a mature Ash.

* * *

After waiting for almost an hour in the barbershop, Ash finally heard his name called.  
"You were really early," the man said, "your appointment was made for 4:30 not 3:30."

"Huh," Ash responded, "Mom normally doesn't make mistakes like that. Oh well, Come on Pikachu."

After a short half an hour, Ash and Pikachu were back outside. "Let's see, what's next?"

Taking out the list Pikachu pointed to the bottom of the list. "Pika?"

"No we aren't there yet Pikachu-"

"Pika pika!"

"What?...Look at the clock tower...what kind of errands are these? And when did Pallet get a clock tower!" Ash said incredulously.

Walking to the middle of the downtown area, Ash looked at the clocktower. "5:15 PM, May 22...Oh man! I forgot about my own birthday!"

"Pik pika pi pika pika." Pikachu said placing his face in his hands at his trainers denseness.

"Yeah Pikachu, how could I forget something that big." Ash said in wonder. Then looking at the list, he saw an arrow pointing to flip the paper over. "Go to the lab." Ash read out loud, coming to the realization that whatever was at the lab was for him. "Well, what are we waiting for Pikachu? Let's go!"

* * *

As Ash and Pikachu approached the lab, they could both see that all the lights were out.  
"Hmm, I guess we should try the house first." Ash stated clearly puzzled.

As Ash was about to turn towards the house Pikachu jumped to the ground and started running towards the door to the lab.

"Hey! Wait up!" Ash yelled sprinting to catch up to his pokemon, but before he could, the electric mouse disappeared through the dog door.

"Pikachu where did yo-"

"SURPRISE! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" Everyone said as Ash opened the door.

"Wow, I knew something was going down but I didn't expect everyone to be here!" Ash said excitedly. He moved to give everyone a hug starting with Max, then May, then Gary, and then he got to Misty. Taking a the chance to look at her, he noticed that she had physically matured. She had way more pronounced curves and had grown into her long slender legs. _She's gorgeous... _Ash thought as he pulled her into a tight embrace causing her to blush a bit, but Ash didn't notice. However, the moment was ruined when Ash's stomach growled so loud that everyone could hear it. Pulling away, Ash smiled cheekily scratching the back of his head. "I guess I'm just really hungry! Let's Eat!"

* * *

As the night wore on, Ash caught up with all of his friends and ate more than he probably should have been able to fit in his stomach.

"Some things never change." Misty said shaking her head in disbelief as Ash shoved down another piece of cake.

"I'm a growing boy!" Ash said making an excuse for the amount of food he had just eaten. But just as he finished speaking, he saw a blue blur pass by the window. _Was that a Lucario?_ Ash thought to himself, still staring out the window. Getting up, Ash walked towards the back door out to the reserve.

"Ash where are you going?" Misty asked.

"I'm just gonna go get some air is all." Ash responded still in a daze.

"Want some company? Misty shot back before even thinking.

"No...I'll be right back."

As Ash walked outside, Misty deflated a bit, "Still the same old Ash" she muttered to herself.

* * *

Walking out the door, Ash felt a wave of energy pass through him. But, it wasn't natural. He felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up as another wave ran up his spine. It seemed to be emanating from the woods straight ahead. Slowly, Ash started towards the source. As he drew closer to the woods, he saw a light laying on the ground about twenty feet away. Coming up to the light, Ash noticed that it was pulsating off of a flower shaped crystal. Leaning down, he picked it up. Suddenly, a large flash blinded him and when he opened his eyes, he wasn't in Pallet Town anymore, in fact, he was twenty feet off the ground looking down at a man and his Lucario.

* * *

Watching Ash from behind a tree, a Lucario carefully stepped back into the shadows and knelt down, bowing his head. "It is done. Now I shall finally be reunited with you my friend." And with those words, his body dispersed into the breeze.

* * *

_What...What happened?!_ Ash thought flailing around in the air before looking down on the scene below him. Horrified, Ash watched as Lucario shot an aura sphere straight at the unknown man. "Look out!" Ash yelled, but neither the man or the Lucario heard him.

Much to Ash's surprise, the man created a blue shield that completely deflected the aura sphere before creating an aura sphere of his own and hurling it at Lucario. Then following the sphere, the man charged at Lucario dowsing his hand in a blue light and swiping up at the pokemon's chin, creating an arc of what Ash guessed to be aura as well. The attacks hit at the same time and Lucario was thrown to the ground.

"Good try my friend, but you will have to do better than that!" The man said jovially extending a hand to the Lucario. Lucario just grunted with a nod and grabbed the man's hand.

_A human using aura...is that even possible?_ Ash thought. Then the man stopped and turned looking straight at Ash.

"I cannot see you Ash Ketchum of Pallet town, but I can sense your thoughts and aura. My name is Sir Aaron and I am an Aura Guardian. After my inevitable death, there will be no more Aura Guardians and the world will be unprotected. That is until your birth happens in the future. You, Ash Ketchum, are an Aura Guardian, and one of prophetic importance. You must train yourself how to use aura. I wish that I could say and help you more, but you are here through a Time Flower, and thus, my time is limited. So, I will leave you with this. The Book of Moirai must be destroyed."

"Wait!" Ash yelled, but the world around him began to fade away. And, before he knew it, he was back in the woods, helplessly confused.

Sitting down in the dirt, Ash looked down at his hands._ An Aura Guardian...I can't be...can I?_  
Curiously, he began to focus, trying to coax his energy to manifest in his hands. Slowly but surely, they began to glow like blue fire.

* * *

"Ash has been gone quite a while," Misty said turning to Brock.

"He's probably just hanging with his pokemon," Brock stated.

"Well this is his birthday party! And all of us came to see him!" Misty replied beginning to get mad that Ash would leave his friends alone at his own birthday.

"Why don't you go check on him then?" Dawn suggested as May nodded her head in agreement.

Misty rolled her eyes at Gary, choosing to ignore the knowing wink that he gave her as she excused herself from the table. Stepping outside she scanned the yard for signs of Ash. She was about to call his name when she saw a blue flash from the woods. Starting to worry, Misty began to run towards the flash. But, when she arrived, she couldn't believe her eyes.

* * *

Ash stood, opposite of a lone tree, on the outskirts of a small clearing that he had walked to after his bout with the Time Flower. Bringing his hand up, he turned his palm so that it faced the sky. Then, as he focused on shifting his energy to his hand, a blue orb began to grow. Satisfied, and a bit surprised at his success, Ash hurled the aura sphere at the tree causing a blue flash followed by a small boom as it made impact leaving, knocking down the tree. Dazed and completely astonished by his new ability, Ash didn't hear Misty approach from behind.

Bringing his hand up once again, he drew in a deep breath before creating another aura sphere. But, instead of throwing it, he brought it up to his eyes, different shades of blue aura swirled around in the palm of his hand.

"Ash?" Misty timidly asked.

As Ash spun around, blue light bathed her figure and chased the shadows from her face; at the sight of Misty's confused but slightly scared expression, Ash snapped out of his trance-like state, dropping the aura sphere as he fell to one knee.

"Ash!" Misty cried out worriedly as she hurried over to him. "Are you ok? Wha-,what was that?!"

Ignoring her questions, Ash looked up as he realized that everything Sir Aaron had said was true. "Misty, we have a problem," he said seriously.

**So, that's the start of the story. Hopefully you enjoyed this chapter. Next time more of the plot will be revealed. In regards to the aura part of this story, I'm approaching it from the angle that it is more or less awakened rather than learned from grueling training. Of course Ash will have to train and practice to master the skill and learn new techniques, but he figures it out on his own. Please review! Reviews help me make the story better and also motivate me!**

**Thanks for reading, **  
**theriot010 **


	2. Chapter 2

**Well, I already had this done so I decided to post it. It adds depth to the story. Enjoy!**

**Chapter 2**

As, Misty helped Ash back to the lab, a million questions nagged at the back of her mind, but she kept them to herself knowing that they would all be answered soon. Opening the door, she called out to Brock who was seated the closest. Looking up, he saw Ash with his arm around Misty's shoulder for support, sagging at her side. Quickly he rushed over and took Ash's weight from Misty, then carefully he assisted him to a chair. Soon, everyone had gathered around the fatigued boy waiting for answers, but no one knew where to begin.

Suddenly, Ash turned to Professor Oak and asked, "What do you know about The Book of Moirai?"

Taken aback by the abruptness of the question, Oak simply chuckled nervously and stated "That book is just a myth. I wouldn't waste my time researching something that isn't real! And even if it were real its-"

"Professor!" Ash interrupted, "this is serious! Something terrible is going to happen and it begins with that book!" Ash said raising his voice.

No one moved. Ash never raised his voice let alone at Professor Oak.

"Ash honey," Delia started clearly shaken by her son's outburst, "why do you need to know about this...this book?"

After a short pause, he lifted his hand up and within seconds, a small blue ball appeared in his palm. "This is why."

"It's-it's not possible," Oak whispered. "There are no more of them!"

"No more of what?" Delia asked quickly.

"Aura Guardians." Ash answered as he let the aura sphere fizzle out.

Again, there was silence.

"What do you know about Aura Guardians?" Oak asked Ash a bit rattled.

"All I know," Ash said diverting the question, "is that I went outside and was immediately drawn to this glowing crystal in the woods, a Time Flower is what Sir Aaron called it...then he told me to destroy that book."

"Ash, maybe we should just get you home sweetie, you've had a long day and I'm sure you're just tired an-" Delia was cut off.

"Wait!" Oak said. And everyone turned their attention to the Pokemon Professor. "What Ash described is a Time Flower, and only an Aura Guardian can activate one, which means, you are indeed an Aura Guardian. You had all better follow me," Oak finished tiredly.

The Professor led everyone down the steps to his personal research lab. There he turned on his computer and pulled up a file titled The Book of Moirai. Almost instantly, a huge document opened up on the screen.  
Everyone looked on in astonishment. Oak never hid research unless there was an excellent reason.

"The Book of Moirai," Oak began, "is not a myth, in fact, it is very real. I have been researching it for years now and I still don't know much about it; let me start from the beginning. Two-hundred years ago, before our world knew peace, many wars were waged over this book. But soon, the world grew weary of war and decided that it would be best to destroy the book. However, before it could be done, an evil Aura Guardian stole it and hid it away. Fortunately, he never got the chance to use it; he died suddenly, shortly after stealing the book. However, before he died, it is said that he placed a barrier made of dark aura around the book. Since then, Aura Guardians have dedicated their lives to finding and destroying this book, but the dark aura protecting it shielded it from being sensed. After decades of searching, the Aura Guardians disappeared and were thought to have all died out. Until you, Ash."

"Wait," Max said speaking up, "what's the big deal with this book? Is it dangerous or something?"

"Well, I am not completely sure, but I do have a theory," then turning to Ash he continued, "In ancient Greek mythology, Moirai referred to the three fates, Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropos. Those three deities controlled the "thread of life" to every person ever born. Its power was so great that even the mighty Zeus, king of the gods, was not impervious."

"Ok, but what does that have to do with this book?" Dawn asked, not drawing any connections.

"I'm getting there," Oak said patiently. "Now, I believe that these fates parallel the legendary Kanto birds, Articuno, Zapdos, and Moltres. It would make sense, since The Book of Moirai originated from Kanto. Now here is where I think my theory becomes highly unlikely, what if the book holds the steps necessary to create the thread of life using the birds? It sounds absurd and I honestly have no clue as to how that could be done, but the parallels are just uncanny." Oak finished and a silence settled on the room.

"I have to destroy that book." Ash concluded. "If your theory is correct, that book could spell the end of the world. Whoever controls it would have absolute power and leverage over literally everyone."

"I know," Oak said solemnly, "and if Sir Aaron himself told you to find and destroy it, I am now one-hundred percent sure of its existence."

"But just where would we even begin looking?" Brock asked.

"Whoa, slow down Brock!" Ash said. "I can't ask you to put aside your personal aspirations to come look for a lost book! It could be dangero-"

"Honestly Ash, you couldn't stop me from coming with you," he responded sternly.

Professor Oak spoke up before Ash could retaliate, "Ash, it would be good for you to have help along the way." Delia shook her head in agreement not wanting her son to go alone.

"Fine," Ash said as he noticed the conflicted looks on May, Max, Dawn, and Gary's faces. Then turning to them he said with a determined glint, "Guys, honestly I want you to follow your dreams, don't let this get in your way. It's my burden to bear now, and I'm going to see this through."

The four of them nodded before Gary spoke. "Ash, just because we are not with you doesn't mean we can't get to you. If you need help, you know how to reach us. Right guys?"

They all nodded vigorously in agreement.

Turning back to Oak, Ash reiterated Brock's question, "So do you have any idea of where we would begin looking?"

"According to Kanto lore, the evil Aura Guardian hid it where the bloodiest battles between Kanto and Johto occurred, also known as Mount Silver."

"Well then it's decided. That's where we will head," Ash concluded.

Just as Ash finished speaking, Pikachu, who had been on Ash's shoulder the whole time, let out a huge yawn.

"Well, I think Pikachu has the right idea," Delia said, "it's been a long night and I think that we should all get some rest. We can discuss this more tomorrow."

Everyone nodded their heads in agreement and began to file up the stairs out of Oak's lab, leaving Oak and an overwhelmed Ash by themselves.

"Ash," Professor Oak started seeing the boy's mixed emotion etched across his face, "Sir Aaron has entrusted you with this task. He would not have done so if he thought you incapable. Remember that ok?"  
Ash nodded and headed for the stairs.

* * *

Pikachu lay peacefully sleeping on Ash's bed. Ash watched Pikachu's side rise and fall with each breath; he wondered if he would ever fall asleep tonight. He doubted it. Getting up, he quietly made his way to the door of his room and once he was out, he carefully closed it behind him so that he wouldn't wake up his sleeping Pokemon. Making his way down the stairs, he headed straight for the kitchen. After getting a glass of orange juice, he sat down at the table and began to go over the events of the day in his head. _How had such an ordinary day turned into this?_ He thought to himself as he called upon his aura, causing his hands to glow a deep blue color.

"Good trick," a voice said from behind him.

Without even turning around, Ash asked, "What are you still doing up Misty?"

"I could ask you the same question," she replied smartly.

"I just can't sleep," Ash said.

"Well me too," she concluded as she sat down next to Ash and took a sip of his orange juice.

"How come?" he asked.

"I don't know, I guess I've been thinking," she paused.

Ash took the bait, "About what?"

"Well, I would really like to come with you and Brock to find this Book of Moirai." Before Ash could interrupt, she quickly continued, "My sisters can hold down the gym, plus you could always use another person watching your back and I think that-"

"Yeah I would like that." Ash said surprising himself with his answer.

"Oh," she chuckled a bit before saying, "somehow I thought it would be harder to convince you."

"Yeah me too," he said smiling, "I guess I've grown up a bit since the last time we traveled together."

_You certainly have,_ Misty thought to herself eyeing his arms. All of the traveling and training with his Pokemon paired with just growing up, had done wonders. _Ash has certainly filled out._

"Well," Ash said interrupting Misty's thoughts, "since we're not sleeping, what do you say we watch a movie?"

"Sure!" Misty said as they moved to the living room.

Shortly after starting the movie, fatigue finally overcame the adrenaline of the day and Ash drifted off into a peaceful sleep. Misty soon followed suit, her head unknowingly resting on Ash's shoulder.

* * *

Misty awoke to the smell of eggs and bacon, fully aware that her head lay on Ash's shoulder. Carefully she extracted herself from her position on the couch making sure not to wake him up. Walking into the kitchen, she found Delia making breakfast.

"Good morning Mrs. Ketchum," Misty yawned out.

"Good morning Misty. I was wondering who would be the first to come to breakfast, though to be honest I expected Ash's stomach to wake him up," Delia said joking.

"You would be right!" Ash said plopping down in a chair. "I'm starving!"

The girls rolled their eyes at Ash's predictability.

Soon everyone had woken up, showered, and eaten breakfast. They sat at the kitchen table chatting and catching up as if the day before hadn't even happened. That was until Delia spoke up.

"So I take it you're leaving again?" She asked turning to Ash.

The atmosphere quickly turned stale. "Yeah," Ash responded before flashing a smile and adding, "I'll be back before you know it!"

Pikachu began nodding in agreement from his spot on the table as if to reassure Ash's mother that nothing bad was going to happen.

"Well, okay then, you should all get moving then," Delia said returning to her normal cheerful self. "I'll make you all lunch for the road while you get ready to go!"

* * *

Ash and Pikachu walked together towards Oak's lab.

"I wonder who I should take on this trip..." Ash wondered aloud looking at Pikachu.

Pikachu just shrugged adding "Pika pi pika pik."

"Yeah you're right. It's just such a hard decision!"

Reaching the lab, the two of them entered as Oak was about to exit.

"Oh! Good morning Ash!" You surprised me! "I take it you're here to pick up a team of Pokemon for your...errand." Oak finished trailing off at the end.

"Yeah." Ash said looking down at the ground before lifting his eyes back to Professor Oak. "Thanks for sharing your research yesterday. I know that it's highly sensitive, but this would be impossible if you hadn't."

"Don't mention it," Oak stated solemnly, "I couldn't keep that kind of information from an Aura Guardian." Then Oak turned to walk away, but at the bottom of the stairs he turned back around. "Just remember, Sir Aaron chose you. You can do this Ash." Then he continued on his way.

"Time to choose a team," Ash said exhaling at the difficulty of the task as he entered the reserve behind the lab.

* * *

After seeing off May, Max, and Dawn, Ash stood in front of his house flanked by Brock and Misty, listening to his mother.

"...And don't forget to change your underwea-"

"Mom! I'm nineteen!" He said embarrassed his two companions laughed.

"I know." She said looking down. "Just...just come back safe."

Ash moved forward and pulled his mom into a hug. "I will. I promise." Then he stepped back and all three walked off towards Route 1.

* * *

Reaching out from the shadows, a shadowy man pressed his an intercom button.

"Send her in."

Moments later, a blonde woman entered the dark office. "What are your orders sir?"

"Ahh, Domino, straight to the point, thats why you're my top agent. All I wanted to tell you was that it's time for the end of the world," he said malevolently.

A small smirk tugged at the corner of her lip. "As you wish Giovanni." And as quickly as she had come, she was gone.

Giovanni stood up and paced back and forth in front of his desk. He was in a particularly good mood today.

"Soon, my friend," he said turning to his Persian, "I will fulfill my failed ancestor's destiny, and then I will take the world into a new age, an age of pain and suffering for those who oppose me, but an age of opportunity for those that choose to join."

Satisfied with himself, he returned to his seat and sank back down. Lifting his hand, he smiled as a small violet orb began to form, casting an eerie glow that seemed to flicker with anticipation at the sight of Giovanni's evil face.

**Ash's party will be revealed next chapter! Also, I hope you like the story so far. Please read and review :) It will make me happy!**

**Thanks for reading,**

**theriot010**


	3. Chapter 3

**Enjoy!**

**Chapter 3**

Ash, Misty, and Brock had decided that the fastest route to their destination was straight up Route 1 to Viridian City then over through Victory Road to the base of Mount Silver. However, that would still be quite a trek.

"Brock, when's dinner?" Ash asked him as his stomach audibly growled. The trio had just stopped for the day in a small clearing in the woods.

"I haven't even started cooking yet!" Brock said laughing as the fire started to pick up.

"Sorry!" Ash said sheepishly.

"Don't worry about it, we're all hungry. Why don't you go look for some more firewood?" Brock suggested.

"Sure." Ash answered standing up before adding, "Misty wanna come with?"

She looked at him from where she was laying on the ground. "Are there bug Pokemon in there?" She asked answering Ash's question with another question.

"Well probably but-"

"No thanks I'm good here." She said shuddering at the thought of running into some stray Caterpie or even worse, a Beedrill.

"Alright seeya later then!" Ash yelled over his shoulder as he took off into the woods with Pikachu following close behind.

* * *

Carefully moving through the the brush, Ash stumbled upon a wide stream with a fairly large bank. Turning to his electric companion he asked, "What do you say we do some training?"

"Pika!" Pikachu said nodding his head yes.

"Well ok then come on out!" Ash said as he tossed five pokeballs into the air as his Sceptile, Infernape, Buizel, Staraptor, and Snorlax materialized in front of him. "Ok guys why don't we train for a little bit? If we are going to find the Book of Moirai, we have to get stronger."

All of his Pokemon nodded and paired off before beginning to spar. Ash walked off a little to the side before summoning an aura sphere and flinging it at a rock across the stream. It hit it's mark causing a small explosion and a cloud of dust to rise into the air. Had Ash been paying closer attention, he would have noticed as three shapes blasted off into the sky. Smiling, Ash produced another one, this time he flung it a falling leaf, but missed. Suddenly he felt a bit weak in the knees._ Using aura takes a lot out of me_, he thought to himself, _I guess I have to build up a tolerance. Well, no time like the present!_

* * *

"Misty, would you go find Ash? Dinner is almost ready." Brock said as he concentrated on the soup he was making.

"Yeah, I'll be right back." Then, getting up she warily walked into the woods, giving each bug Pokemon she saw a wide berth.

Soon, she heard the sounds of Ash's Pokemon training. _He was supposed to be finding firewood!_ She thought as she came upon the bank. But, much to her surprise, she found Ash in a sparring match with his Sceptile. _This aura thing is gonna take some getting used to_ she thought as she suppressed the urge to break up the fight remembering that Ash was now pretty capable of handling himself. Leaning against a tree, she silently watched the fight.

* * *

"Ok Sceptile, don't hold back!"

Sceptile looked at his trainer with uncertainty. He was, after all, being asked to attack the very person who raised him from a Treecko. But, he couldn't disobey direct orders so he quickly charged at Ash as the leaves attached to his arms began to glow and extend into blades. With astonishing speed, Sceptile attacked with three quick slashes to Ash's midsection only to be stopped by a thin blue shield that appeared in front of his trainer. Shrugging off the ineffective attack, Sceptile sidestepped and fired a razor leaf attack at Ash's unprotected back. But Ash was ready,_ it's like a sixth sense_ he thought as he whirled around bringing up his shield and then firing an aura sphere that pushed Sceptile back a few yards. _I can sense what Sceptile is about to do._ Then mimicking what Sir Aaron had done to Lucario, Ash ran forward hurling an aura sphere at his surprised Sceptile before swiping his aura shrouded hand up towards the Pokemon's chin. A powerful blue arc threw the grass-type onto his butt, defeated, as Ash dropped to a knee, completely wiped out. Ash's pokemon stared at him in astonishment and with a new level of respect.

"Good fight Sceptile, but you'll have to do better than that!"

Sceptile let out a determined cry as if to let Ash know that next time wouldn't be so easy, but then he approached his trainer and helped him to his feet.

* * *

Misty was just as astounded as Ash's Pokemon were when Sceptile fell defeated. It was as if Ash had been fighting all of his life, although, in a way, he had been. He had been in Pokemon battles since he was ten._ Then again he hadn't been the one fighting..._ she thought to herself before watching him fall to one knee. Just as she was about to run out to make sure he was ok, his Sceptile helped him back to his feet. Almost instantly he appeared to recover. Relieved that he hadn't been hurt, she called out to him.

"Ash! Dinner's ready!"

"Oh hey Misty!" Ash called back, then returning all his Pokemon except Pikachu, he walked over to her. "Thanks for letting me know! I'm starving!"

"That fight looked like it took a lot out of you," she said noting the evident exhaustion in his eyes.

"Don't worry I'm fine," Ash started, but then he stumbled and had to use a tree for support as black spots began to obstruct his vision.

Misty watched as he slowly slumped onto the ground.

"Pika pi?!" Pikachu cried as he ran to his friend's side as Misty crouched down in front of Ash worriedly.

"Ash?" She asked, but got no answer. _Oh god, oh god!_ She thought as her heart began to race. Reaching out she gently placed her hand on his neck feeling for a pulse. Finding one, she closed her eyes and exhaled in relief only to have them shoot open again when she felt a hand grab hers. She blushed as she found herself quite close to Ash's face looking right into his eyes.

"See? I'm fine," he said smiling.

"Ash, you need to be more careful!" She yelled pulling away. "How are you supposed to what Sir Aaron asked if you're dead!" She said feeling angry and worried at his recklessness. "We don't know much about all this aura stuff and-"

"The only way to find out is by using it." Ash finished with a hardened face clearly stung by her words.

Misty looked at him before maneuvering to sit next to him. For a couple of minutes they just sat like that watching the breeze play with the trees before Misty ended the silence, her tone softening as her initial anger faded away.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to yell at you. It's just working your body to its limits the day after discovering aura seems a bit foolish," she said looking straight ahead before turning to face him and continuing, "I know this is a lot of pressure just laid on your shoulders, but, you don't have to hold the sky up on your own."

"Pika." Pikachu added nodding his head in agreement.

"I know." Ash stated as he rose to his feet. Turning around he extended his hand to Misty to help her up. As they walked back to Brock, he shot her a sideways glance before saying, "Thanks Misty."

"For what?"

"Putting things into perspective," he answered as they reached the camp.

"What took you so long?" Brock asked before shaking his head and answering his own question "You were probably making o-"

"Brock you finish that phrase and I will end you." Misty said sizing him up.

"Ok. ok. Sheesh it was just a joke..." Brock said as he handed out bowls of soup.

* * *

Landing with a thud, Jessie, James, and Meowth groaned and untangled their entwined limbs.  
"What was that?" James asked rubbing the back of his head.

"I don't know!" Jessie said bewildered. "All I saw was the twerp and then boom!"

"It was an aura sphere." Meowth stated matter-of-factly. "The twerp is an Aura Guardian."

"A what?" Jessie asked in confusion.

"An Aura Guardian," Meowth repeated. "And a powerful one at that!"

"What the hell is an Aura Guardian?" Jessie asked angrily as she realized stealing Pikachu just became infinitely harder.

"They were said to be an ancient group of people with the power to manipulate aura, but they were thought to be extinct," James said remembering the definition from when his wealthy parents had sent him to school before he joined Team Rocket.

"Whatever," Jessie grumbled, "where are we anyway?"

Suddenly a new voice joined the conversation. "You're two miles away from Team Rocket's base, you dumb shits."

"Domino," Jessie spat out clearly displaying her hatred for the woman, "what do you want?"

"I want the location of this Aura Guardian that you speak of."

"We don't know where he is, we just landed here after an explosion," Meowth said happy to inconvenience Domino.

Taking out a pokeball, Domino threateningly countered, asking, "Are you sure you don't know? Because I'm sure my Salamence would love to come out to play..."

James' eyes widened as he began to spew information like a volcano spews lava. "We were following them from Pallet Town down Route 1 until the twerp went off on his own into the woods talking about some Book of Moirai, we were about to steal his Pikach-"

"Stop!" Domino said briskly walking up to James and grabbing him by the collar of his shirt. "What...did you just say?"

"We were about to steal the Pikachu-"

"Not that! Before that!"

"Book of Moirai?" James squeaked out.

"Yes!" Domino said eyes widening. Then throwing him to the ground she ran off.

Jessie and Meowth looked at James accusingly.

"Why did you give her all that info!" Jessie screamed angrily.

"Forget that!" Meowth started, "Did you see how fast she ran off! I bet that Book of whatever she said is worth a lot of money! We should steal it and give it to the boss."

"And then we will be his favorite instead of that whore Domino," Jessie said.

* * *

Domino stopped to catch her breath. Then she reached into her pocket and pulled out a small phone. Opening it, the phone made a weird beeping noise before Giovanni's voice came from the other side of the line.

"Domino, what news do you have for me? You certainly could not have secured the...items yet."

"No sir I haven't. But a complication has arisen."

"What?! What kind of complication?" He asked, his temper beginning to rise.

"It appears that someone else is looking for the Book," she said tentatively.

Giovanni laughed. "Well it doesn't matter."

"Sir?" Domino inquired confusedly.

But he continued, "Even if they find it, they cannot take the book from within its dark shield. Only an aura user can do that, and we both know that I am the only one left... Right?"

Domino didn't answer.

"RIGHT?!" Giovanni said as Domino imagined his face turning purple with rage at the realization that he was no longer the only aura user left in the world.

"Sir, eyewitness reports say that he's an Aura Guardian."

Giovanni screamed with rage and Domino heard a distinct thud as the line was disconnected. But moments later, she received a text.

I DONT CARE HOW YOU DO IT JUST BRING HIM TO ME!

"With pleasure," Domino said aloud smiling while simultaneously calling out her Salamence. Then turning to him she said "Let's go hunting."

* * *

Misty, Brock, and Ash, with Pikachu on his shoulder, sat around the fire talking and laughing about memories from their first journey together.

"Always remember guys," Ash began, "that if it's raining you can use your trusty frying pan, as a drying pan..."

They all laughed except for Brock who defensively exclaimed, "Well you know what? I didn't get wet that day!" Before breaking out into laughter as well.

"We sure had some good times huh?" Misty said starting to calm down.

"Yeah-" Ash began as a huge yawn escaped, "I'm beat! I think it's time for bed."

"Yeah that's probably a good idea, we have to get moving pretty early," Brock added.

Each person then undid their sleeping bags and crawled in to go to sleep.

Ash closed his eyes expecting to see darkness that would lure him into a deep sleep, but instead he saw the world around him through a blue lens. Curiously, he saw the outline of some sort of figure in the sky. Focusing a bit harder, he saw that it was a Salamence? he thought to himself. Something's not right he thought as he opened his eyes. Looking up, he saw a Salamence with someone riding on its back swooping down silently right at him.

"Hey!" Ash screamed alerting the others.

"What the heck Ash!" Misty said opening her eyes and then immediately noticing the Salamence with the mysterious rider falling from the sky straight at Ash.

Brock was already up, calling out his Croagunk. Seeing this, Misty called out her Corsola. Ash jumped out of the way as the Salamence landed, shaking the ground.

Domino jumped off the mighty beast's back and asked "Which one of you is the Aura Guardian?"

No one moved or answered except Pikachu who moved in front of Ash, cheeks crackling with electricity.

"No one? Well that's just flat out rude! Salamence use flamethrower on Croagunk!"

Before Brock could even call out for Croagunk to dodge, his Pokemon was knocked out.

Brock gritted his teeth. "Croagunk return."

"So you can speak! Salamence use hyper beam on Corsola."

Letting out an intimidating roar, Salamence fired a beam of powerful white light at the defenseless Corsola that would inevitably hit the shocked Misty as well.

"Enough!" Ash yelled dashing in front of the beam.

Domino's hellish grin turned to astonishment as a blue wall of aura completely blocked the hyper beam. In fact the only evidence that the attack had been used were the cracks webbing out from the spot of impact on the shield.

"Snorlax, use Outrage!" Ash called as he threw his pokemon materialized in front of him immediately using outrage. The move was super effective against the Salamence but didn't knock him out. "Pikachu help Snorlax!" And then dropping the shield Ash rushed at Domino.

"Who are you? What do you want?" Ash yelled as he ran forward.

Dodging an aura sphere, Domino replied, "My name is Domino, and to put it simply, I want you."

Whipping out a knife, she slashed at Ash, but like when he was fighting Sceptile, he could sense the attack and stepped out of the way.

Brock and Misty looked on helplessly as they watched horrified; Domino seemed bent on seriously injuring Ash.

Dousing his hand in blue, Ash chopped down on Domino's shoulder causing her to cry out, but it left him vulnerable. She quickly tossed her knife to the other hand and aggressively swiped at her opponent, grazing his upper bicep. However, Ash was too amped on adrenaline to feel it. Smoothly, he grabbed her wrist and called upon his aura once more, firing an aura sphere at point blank range. Domino cried out in anguish as she disengaged and swiftly jumped onto her Salamence's back.

"You will pay for this!" She called out as Salamence took off. "You will never get the Book before us." And then she disappeared.

Returning his Snorlax to his pokeball, Ash commended the Pokemon for his efforts. And then went over to Brock and Misty. "Are you guys ok?" Ash asked concerned.

"Yeah I think so," Misty said checking herself.

"Are you ok?" Brock asked as Misty eyed the gash on his right arm, right below the shoulder.

"Yeah I'm fine" Ash answered. "We should really get to Viridian City tonight. It's not safe to stay in the woods."

The other two agreed with him and they all packed up their things and started walking. About ten minutes in, Pikachu jumped up onto Ash's shoulder unknowingly forcing him to grimace, but he kept quiet so he wouldn't worry any of his friends.

* * *

As the trio and Pikachu arrived at the outskirts of of Viridian City, the sun was beginning to rise. Misty took a second to look back at Ash and noticed that there was dried blood all down the side of his arm. Frowning, she picked up her pace a bit silently urging the other two to move faster. "We should head for the Pokemon Center to get some rest," Misty stated.

Brock and Ash both nodded their heads. Finally, the three of them reached the Pokemon Center. Ash and Misty went to claim a room while Brock took care of the remaining logistics.

"I just want to sleep for days," Ash complained collapsing on a bed. Pikachu was already almost fast asleep.

"Not so fast," Misty started as she sat down on the edge of his bed, "let me just check your arm really quick."

Much too tired to argue, Ash sat up cooperating with his worried friend. "It's fine! It barely hurts," he assured as he pulled up his sleeve.

Misty inspected it before dragging him to the bathroom. "Ok, well at least let me clean it up."

He nodded as he sat down. Misty grabbed a towel and put it under the faucet. "Alright, this will be easier if you just take off your shirt," she said averting her eyes a tad embarrassed at her request.

Ash just mumbled some gibberish about everything being fine but did as she asked. Turning to face him again, she blushed a deep crimson. _Ash is pretty muscular..._she thought to herself as her mind began to wander making her blush even darker. _It's a good thing he's basically asleep_ she resolved as she bent over and started to gently wipe away the blood until just the gash was visible.

"It's not so bad, but it's good to clean it up, prevents infection and stuff," she said justifying her actions.

"I told you it wasn't bad!" he said impatiently.

Reaching into her pack she pulled out a couple butterfly bandages and applied them to the wound.

"There, you're good to go," Misty concluded.

"Thanks" Ash said as he got up from his seat. The bathroom really wasn't much bigger than a small closet, and as Ash tried to squeeze around Misty towards the door, his waist pressed up against her stomach causing Misty to blush and Ash's heart to speed up. "Sorry!" Ash apologized as he tried frantically wriggle out of Misty's personal space.

"It's ok!" She said moving to her right to make a bit more space._ Really it's alright!_ she thought excitedly. But Ash, being Ash, just extracted himself from the situation and then in a matter of minutes was sleeping, leaving Misty red faced in the bathroom.

* * *

Giovanni needed some good news. It had only been about six hours since he found out that this other Aura Guardian would not be joining him yet. But he knew it was just a matter of time. Domino never failed. Suddenly, his intercom buzzed.

"What is it?! I'm busy!" he asked venomously.

"Sir! Doctor Voorman is here."

"Send him in."

Entering the room was a tall skinny bald man who stood at about six foot four. "Sir, your machine is ready to be built. I just need you to sign off on the design."

Giovanni sat down at his desk. "Finally, some good news!" And then reaching out he looked over the schematics. "Perfect. Start building straight away."

The doctor nodded his head and dismissed himself from the room.

"On to phase two," Giovanni said as he ran his hand down his Persian's back.

**This chapter basically set up the connection point of the two sides of the story. Also, I wanted to show that Ash isn't invincible just cause he's an Aura Guardian. Development of character relationships was also a main focus of this chapter. Hope you enjoy it! Drop me a review :) **

**Thanks for reading,**  
**theriot010**


	4. Chapter 4

**Sorry for taking so long and canceling the story. I don't know what came over me tonight, maybe it was because I was drunk, but all of the sudden I had a spark of motivation and I was able to map out the rest of the story. It will be finished. Once again I apologize. But I'm back and here's Chapter 4 :)**

**Chapter 4**

Deep in Victory cave, a tall man with blue hair stood in front seven Team Rocket Grunts.

"When we arrive in Moltres' chamber, I want four of you to release your koffings and order them to use toxic. The other three of you," he said pointing to the three specific grunts he wanted, "will then move in and use the capture device. Does everyone understand!"

A chorus of "Yes sir" rang through the cavern.

"Good. Let's move out then."

The eight of them pushed forward deeper into the cave led by the blue-haired man. After walking for about an hour, they stopped and the lead man signaled for them to filter into the cavern.

Each man slowly edged their way into the shadows of the chamber. A warm glow emanated from the sleeping Moltres threatening to expose the sneaking Rockets' positions. However, once the four Rockets with the Koffings reached their positions behind Moltres, they silently released their Pokemon into the chamber and with a quick nod the four Koffing released a strong toxic attack. Moltres eyes snapped open and with a shriek of pain, it spread its fiery wings and took to the air. With the chamber in complete chaos, the blue-haired Rocket Elite yelled "Everyone hold your positions! Do not let Moltres escape!" Then turning to the remaining three grunts with him he screamed "string shot maneuver!"

The three grunts released their newly issued caterpie, and ordered all of them to perform string shot to try and slow down Moltres. This only managed to upset the legendary bird more, causing it to aimlessly shoot flamethrowers all throughout the cavern. "Greg!" the elite shouted using the grunts first name for emphasis, "order another toxic! QUICKLY!"

Greg turned to the other three with the Koffing "You heard him! Do it now!"

Just as the attack was let out Greg heard a loud scream. Turning to the man next to him, he saw that one of Moltres flamethrowers had found its mark. The man next to him, Anthony! Greg thought, was burning alive, the molten flame causing his flesh to bubble and pop. This is wrong Greg thought. A creature with this much raw destructive power should not be caught. But fearing death, Greg continued to follow orders.

All of a sudden, the Moltres stopped firing flamethrowers and began to lose altitude. "Prepare the capture sequence!" The elite yelled triumphantly.

The three other grunts with him rolled up a metal structure that looked somewhat like a tennis ball shooter with a single pokeball loaded in it. Flipping the switch, the pokeball began to crackle with dark aura. With a jolt the ball flew out and struck Moltres right in the forehead. With one last shriek, the powerful bird was sucked into the magnetically altered pokeball and caught.

"Hahaha! We've done it! Giovanni will be pleased!" The elite said turning to the rest of his men.

"Please!" pleaded a voice from across the chamber. "Please help him!"

The Elite slowly walked over to where Greg was crouched over his dying comrade.

"We cannot help this weakling," the blue haired man spat out.

"We have to do something!" Greg argued frantically.

"Ok," the elite said cooly, then releasing a pokeball, he ordered "Sandslash, slash." And with a sickening thud, the sandslash ended the other mans life. "Let's go," the elite said while picking up Moltres' pokeball leaving Greg stunned, kneeling over his dead brother.

* * *

Ash awoke with a jolt hitting his head on the top bunk. "OW!" He exclaimed rubbing his head. Pikachu opened his eyes.

"Pika pikapi?" He asked.

"No I'm ok Pikachu, just hit my head is all. But now that we're up we should get the others up and ready to go. We start towards Mount Silver today."

Soon enough, everyone was up and ready to go.

"Alright," Brock started taking out a map, "we are going to head up route 22 towards Victory cave. We should be able to get there by nightfall and then up route 23 and towards Mount Silver. That will take a bit longer. So I suggest that we stock up on supplies before we leave Viridian. Sound like a plan?" Brock asked.

Misty and Ash nodded in consent.

"Good then why don't you two head to the grocery store and pick up a few things and I'll head to the pokemart."

Everyone headed off to do their tasks.

"Ash," Misty began, "How is your arm feeling?"

Ash started to answer when he realized something, the gash that had been there the night before didn't even hurt anymore. "Actually, it feels like it didn't even happen." He replied seriously.

Misty chuckled "That's a good attitude to have, hopefully you'll be able to resume training in the next couple weeks!"

"No seriously Misty, it doesn't even hurt." Then lifting up his sleeve, he showed her the cut, to both of their surprise all that was left as evidence that the injury had even happened was a wispy scar.

"Wow." Misty said astonished.

"Must be another Aura power." Ash said equally astonished.

The two continued to walk to the grocery store in silence, lost in their own thoughts.

* * *

Night was just beginning to fall when Ash began to sense more people walking towards him.

Turning to Misty and Brock he whispered "Guys, I think we should stop for a bit."

Seeing how serious he was, the other two nodded. "What is it Ash?" Misty asked.

"I...I sense people coming towards us," and closing his eyes he reached out with his aura.

"Ok..." Misty said dragging out the word, "we always run into people though..."

"No this is different. These guys are all sticking to the treeline. There's seven of them all in V formation."

"Weird..." Brock said wondering what could be going on and not really adjusting well to Ash's 'sixth sense'.

"Even weirder, one of them has an unusually dark aura," Ash continued.

"Maybe we should investigate?" Misty offered.

Suddenly, Pikachu jumped off of Ash's shoulder and took off towards the unknown men.

"Pikachu get back here!" Ash half whispered half yelled taking off behind his partner.

"Well," Misty began "Looks like Pikachu made the decision for us." And she and Brock took off in pursuit of Ash.

* * *

Once they caught up to him, they found an extremely angry Pikachu, cheeks sparking with pent up electricity, confronting seven team Rocket operatives.

"Oh look," the blue haired one snidely said, "a little Pikachu. And what has you all worked up may I ask?"

"Pika pik pi pika!" Pikachu aggressively stated taking a step towards the front man.

"Pikachu!" Ash said as he stepped up to back his friend, "What's wrong?"

Pikachu pointed to the pokeball at the lead man's waist.

"There's something in there that doesn't belong?" Ash asked.

"Pika pikapi!" Pikachu nodded.

"Well well well as you can see I caught it fair and square would you like to see what it is?" the man asked as the other rockets spread out to surround the trio and pikachu.

"Ash..." Misty warned as the man reached for the pokeball.

Ash turned around to see that he, Brock and Misty were completely surrounded. "You two think you can handle those guys?" Ash asked.

"Piece of cake," Brock replied. Misty just smirked as the three of them stood back to back.

All at once, Grunts released their pokemon, each releasing a Caterpie or a Koffing, while Misty chose her Gyarados and Brock his Sudowoodo. But what happened next, neither Misty, Brock or Ash expected. The Rocket elite threw his pokeball and out with a chilling screech came Moltres. Except, instead of having gold eyes, it had glowing black ones.

The trio of heroes looked on in awe as Moltres took to the sky awaiting orders. Pikachu's sparks grew wilder in anger.

Laughing the elite shifted his eyes towards the angry Pikachu and venomously spat out "You three kids are in a whole lot of trouble." And the battle commenced.

The Koffing and Caterpie began attacking Gyarados and Sudowoodo with little effect. But Moltres let out a blazing flamethrower straight for Pikachu. Jumping into action, Ash pulled up a shield in front of his Pokemon to block the attack before issuing his own command for a thunderbolt. Surprised that the flamethrower didn't melt all of his enemies, the elite stood shocked before smiling, "I was warned about you, Aura guardian, and I believe that I will get an extra bonus for bringing in your charred body to my boss. Moltres, drill peck and then flare blitz!"

"Pikachu dodge it with agility and use thunderbolt again!"

Both pokemon went into action, Moltres dove at top speed, beak spinning and spewing flame, straight for Pikachu and Ash, but Pikachu's agility was too fast and he dodged letting go a tremendous thunderbolt but it seemed to glance right off of Moltres's back harmlessly.

Meanwhile, Misty and Brock had just finished off the last of the Grunts' pokemon and with the grunts themselves fleeing, were turning around towards Ash's battle, but upon noticing that the ineffectiveness of Pikachu's powerful thunderbolt, they rushed into action.

"Sudowoodo, Wood Hammer!"

"Gyarados Hydro Cannon!"

Both attacks hit, with the Hydro Cannon knocking Moltres from the air. The elite looked around seeing that his grunts had all been defeated and that Moltres was tired and injured from its capture, he grunted in frustration. "Another time then." He said getting on Moltres back. "But the next time you won't be so lucky. With the other legendary birds soon to be under Rocket control, you and anyone else who tries to oppose us will crumble." And then he was gone.

Ash stood there staring straight ahead, his jaw locked in determination, for about a minute before anyone spoke up.

"Ash," Brock started, "What are we going to do?"

Turning to his two friends he stated, "We have to call in the calvary."

* * *

**Sooo, that was that. Feels good to write again. Let me know what you think of the new chapter and what you think is going to happen next! Drop me a review. I like them!**

**thanks for reading,**

**theriot010**


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

Ash, Misty, and Brock traveled silently through the night back to Viridian city after their battle with Moltres.

Misty glanced over at Ash who was deep in thought, worry etched all over his face.

"Ash is everything ok?" She asked.

"Yea..." He paused "I was just thinking about that fight, was it just me or did Moltres seem off?"

"Pika pik!" Pikachu said nodding his head vigorously.

"Now that you mention it, I did notice that its eyes were an eerie shade of dark purple," Brock stated turning to face Ash.

"That's what I thought, I just wanted to make sure it wasn't my mind playing tricks."

"Ok so Moltres had purple eyes, it's not like people have much data on Moltres or any of the legendary birds really," Misty said shaking her head confused at why Ash was so hung up on that small detail.

"Remember when I said that I saw a dark aura with the group of rockets?" Ash asked.

The others nodded.

"Well that was Moltres."

The other two nodded slowly not completely understanding what that meant. Seeing their confusion Ash quickly kept going.

"You see everyone's aura is a shade of blue. It varies from person to person on how dark or light it is, but it's still blue. I have never seen a different color before, however, when Moltres attacked Pikachu and I activated my aura to shield Pikachu from that flamethrower, I got a better look at Moltres's aura."

Both Misty and Brock were listening intently now.

"Moltres is being held captive against its will," Ash said eyes widening at his discovery.

"How do you know that?" Misty asked.

"Well Moltres's aura wasn't completely purple. Its blue aura was still there, only it was outlined by a dark purple aura. With every attack it fired, its blue aura would flare out as if it was trying to break through the darker aura's wall. It's only speculation but..."

"It makes sense though," Brock put in, "I mean how else would Team Rocket have captured such a powerful being? How did they alter its aura though...that's a scary thought."

Another silence fell over the group as they began to realize how dire the situation was. _ If Team Rocket is targeting the three legendary birds and has the means to catch them,_ Ash thought,_ then they must play a pivotal role in finding the book._

As Ash finished his thought, the first rays of sunlight began to tease the horizon, relieving the moon of its duty.

"As soon as we get to the pokemon center I need to make some calls," Ash stated.

* * *

"Pierce, you bring good news, no?"

"Yes sir! We have secured Moltres," Pierce reported as he reached to his belt to hand over the pokeball containing the legendary bird.

"Good! But, I want you to keep that for now. I want you to go to the abandoned power-plant and oversee the capture of Zapdos," Giovanni said stroking his Persian. "You are well versed with the Aura Infuser while the grunts that I sent down there are not. That will be extremely helpful."

"Yes sir! What about Articuno?"

"Don't worry about Articuno, I have Domino assigned to that project."

"Very well sir, I will leave at once."

"Good."

Once Pierce was gone, another man shakily walked in.

"Ahhh Dr. Yung, thank you for coming. Lucky for you the Aura Infuser worked, though I should expect nothing less from a computer expert and the creator of mirage pokemon. So, congratulations, you may continue to live!" Giovanni said oozing malevolence. "But, I have another job for you. You see I'm about to give you very, very sensitive information, can you keep it a secret?" he paused, "of course you can!" The Rocket boss shook his head sarcastically, "What a fall from grace you have had 'Mirage Master.' It's amazing the amount of control one has over another when they have leverage, and I have your wife AND I know where everyone else you ever cared about lives." Giovanni laughed. "Anyway, where was I…oh yeah! The information. So do you know why we need to acquire Moltres, Articuno, and Zapdos?"

The doctor shook his head no.

"Of course you don't! Well listen carefully because I'm about to tell you. You see, once we have the trio of legends, we can open the cavern in which The Book Of Moirai is held. Now there are some minor details I'm leaving out but you don't need to know them to do what I'm about to ask you," Giovanni said as if he were speaking to a child. "All you need to do is create a device that will allow me to combine the power of all three birds into one. You do this and you and your wife both go free and I leave you and your family alone for the rest of your life. You have my word. If you choose to defy my orders like last time, well your wife is already down to 9 fingers. You get the point. Dismissed."

Dr. Yung turned quickly and hurried from the office.

* * *

After visiting Pallet town, May and Max were headed back to the Unova region while Dawn decided to go home to the Sinnoh region. However, currently they were all at Max and May's house in Petalburg city stopping in to resupply for their separate journeys.

"May Dear, the phone is for you!" May's mother Caroline called out.

"Thanks mom, be there in a sec!" Then turning to Max and Dawn she continued, "I wonder who that could be."

May stood up from the couch where the three of them had been watching a Pokemon contest and walked into the kitchen to the video-phone.

"May?"

"Ash?!" May said surprised to hear from her friend so soon after leaving him. "Is everything ok?!"

"Well...not re-" Ash began.

"Oh no! Is Brock and Misty and Pikachu ok?!" She asked cutting Ash off mid-word.

"May! Everyone is fine, just the situation has escalated quicker than we had thought it would. Is Max there too? He should hear this as well."

May nodded and said "And Dawn."

"Ok good, call them over." After Dawn and Max greeted Ash, he went back to what he was saying. "So as I was saying, the situation has escalated a lot faster than we had thought it would and the stakes are higher. Team Rocket is also after the Book of Moirai." He let that sink in before continuing, "But for some reason they are capturing the legendary birds Moltres, Zapdos, and Articuno. They have already captured Moltres. I think that the birds play a role in finding the book itself."

"Wait," Max pipped up, "Team Rocket has already captured Moltres? How did they manage to do that? I thought that it was nearly impossible to capture them!"

The other girls looked equally curious so Ash explained his discovery about the dark aura surrounding Moltres's normal one to them.

"Thats horrible! How could they treat pokemon like that!" Dawn cried out.

"They are criminals Dawn, they have no remorse when it comes to morality," Ash said with a hardened glare.

No one had ever seen Ash like this. Silence.

"After we fought with the Rockets who captured Moltres, their leader spewed some helpful information. They are going after the other two birds very soon. That leaves us little time to stop them and Brock, Misty, and I can't go to both locations at once, so I need you to go to the abandoned power-plant near Cerulean city to protect Zapdos while we head to the Seafoam Islands to protect Articuno."

"Ok Ash, we will be there as soon as we can!" Max said determinedly.

"Yeah you can count on us!" Dawn added.

"Bye Ash," May said.

"Be careful guys." Ash said before the screen went black.

May turned to Dawn worriedly, "I have never seen Ash so serious before! This must be very important."

The others nodded in agreement.

"How are we going to get there?" Dawn asked as May began to write a note to her parents telling them where they were going - not what they were doing though.

"Don't worry, I can get us to Cerulean," Max stated with a small smirk as he reached for a pokeball, "But we will have to walk from there." With a flash of light a Gardevoir appeared.

"Oh no!" May shrieked, "Max I don't want to tele-"

Grabbing Dawn's arm and May's wrist, Max related a command, "Gardevoir Teleport to Cerulean city." With a flash of white and one last scream from a terrified May, the four of them disappeared.

* * *

"Ash, are you going to call Gary?" Misty asked Ash as he hung up the phone with May, Max, and Dawn.

"I tried. He's not reachable."

"Do you know where he is though?" She pushed.

"No Misty I don't!" Ash yelled at her before walking out of the deserted pokemon center, Pikachu in wake, leaving a bewildered Misty staring at a closed door.

Misty's legendary temper began to flare, "Hey! You can't talk to me that way! Get back here and apologize!" She screamed after him before beginning to chase after. But before she even got two steps, Brock grabbed her wrist and shook his head.

"Let him be Misty. He didn't mean to yell. He's just under a lot of stress," Brock stated trying to calm down the infuriated girl.

"That's no excuse to yell," she said glaring daggers at the door Ash had just walked out of.

"You're right and Ash knows that he's made a mistake."

Taking a deep breath Misty relaxed a bit, then looking at the clock and seeing that it was already 1:00PM, she yawned. "I'm gonna get some rest, we've been up for over 24 hours."

Brock nodded. "Yeah we should definitely sleep. I would assume that we are going to head out early tomorrow morning."

* * *

There was a loud CRACK and then a Max appeared in front of the Cerulean Pokemon center along with an extremely frazzled Dawn and May.

"Thanks Gardevoir, take a nice long break," Max said as he returned his exhausted pokemon back into her ball.

"Never. Again." Dawn gasped out.

Before May could add her two cents, Max noted "Were here so let's get moving."

The three of them headed west towards the Rock Tunnel path and about four hours later they were at the trailhead to the abandoned power-plant.

"We should camp here for the night," May said as she looked around.

"Yeah I'm too tired to make it all the way to the power-plant tonight," Dawn moaned.

"Yeah let's set up camp," Max agreed.

* * *

After storming out of the Viridian Pokemon center, Ash made his way into the woods on the outskirts of town. Frustrated, he leaned his arm against the trunk of a huge oak tree, letting his head fall against it only to abruptly push himself away with an angry scream. He felt his aura engulf his clenched fists as he punched the tree trunk as if it were a punching bag.

"Pikapi?"

Left hook, right, left, right.

"PIKAPI?"

Ash's aura spread like cool fire up his arms as he threw a hard right elbow at the tree making contact with a resonating crack. Leaves fell like rain and the bark was splintering scattering wooden sparks.

"PI KA CHUU!" Pikachu said as he loosed a sharp thundershock at his distressed friend.

Ash stopped and looked at the ground ashamed that he had let his anger get the better of him.

"Pikapi pika pik pika pikachu pika," Pikachu scolded.

Looking up, Ash saw how much damage he had done to the tree. He had churned through half of the trunk. A couple days ago that would have knocked him out. But the constant use of aura had begun to expand his endurance. Ash turned around.

"I know I shouldn't have snapped at Misty like that," Ash said to Pikachu. "I'm just frustrated right now and I need to get it out someway."

"Pika pi pikachu pika pi pik," the electric mouse huffed out.

"Ok ok the tree didn't deserve the beating. Why don't we go do some constructive training then buddy!"

* * *

Around 11PM Ash stumbled back into the Pokemon center worn out from training with his pokemon. Carefully he entered the room to find Brock and Misty sleeping. Pikachu went straight to bed while Ash quietly got into the shower. After showering and getting dressed he slowly crept from the room and back outside to enjoy the night air. Closing his eyes, he began to expand his mind until he felt a familiar aura directly behind him.

"Misty you really need to stop creeping up on me," Ash said without opening his eyes, "first at home and now here." He felt her sit down next to him. Opening his eyes he turned to face her. "Misty I am really sorry for snapping at you like I did earlier. I was way out of line."

"Thanks for apologizing Ash," Misty said, "but I forgave you like 20 minutes after you left so don't worry," she finished flashing a smile then changing to a straight face added "But don't let it happen again," smile, "Ok?"

"You know Misty, you scare the crap out of me sometimes," Ash chided.

Misty yawned and leaned her head on Ash's shoulder. "So why are you out here at 1 in the morning? You've been up for way over 24 hours."

"I can't sleep," he responded.

"Well that's quite obvious! But what's keeping you awake?" She asked.

"Mist, I don't even know where to begin," Ash sighed out.

"Try," she said.

"Alright..." Ash paused, "I guess I'm afraid," he mumbled into the top of her head.

"Ash-" Misty began sitting up.

"But not for me," he continued, "for everyone I'm getting involved in this. I know that there is no other way but that just makes me angry. You saw Moltres, it was aiming to kill. What gives me the right to ask my friends to risk their lives? What kind of friend am I for doing that?" He finished looking at Misty for an answer.

"Ash, you are really too selfless. Any one of us - Me, Brock, May, Max, Dawn, or Gary - could say no. But we don't do you know why?"

"Because you feel obligated to help a friend?"

"No, because I-WE," she corrected quickly emphasizing 'we', "care very very much about you. You would do the same for any of us too." She added looking away blushing.

"I know," then getting up Ash offered Misty a hand. Taking it she felt herself being pulled into a hug. Her cheek resting on his chest. She felt her face heat up with the contact. "I just don't want anything bad to happen to those closest to me."

Pulling out of the hug, Misty grabbed Ash's hand and he let her lead him back to the room where Brock was still out.

"Get some sleep Ash, we have a long day ahead of us," Misty whispered.

"Goodnight Misty."

"Goodnight Ash."

* * *

As the sun rose above the mountains, it began to stream through the foliage onto the sleeping faces of May, Max and Dawn. Soon the three began to stir and after a quick breakfast, were on their way to the power-plant.

"How much further?" Dawn whined.

"About the same amount since the last time you asked, 2 minutes ago," Max snapped.

"According to my Pokegear, we are very close!" May exclaimed excitedly. "I wonder what Zapdos will look like in real life!"

"We don't have to get too close...right?" Dawn asked, voice wavering a bit.

"Our job is to keep it safe from Team Rocket let's not forget that," Max added.

After a bend in the path, the power-plant came into view.

"Zapdos lives in that..." Dawn said pointing to the run down building in front of them.

"I guess so," May said taking the lead.

The three of them entered the building through what used to be a door; it had rotted off many years before from the looks of it. The inside wasn't much better. The paint was peeling from the walls and the place smelled like mold and mildew. Though there was dim lighting, it was easy to see that broken glass and dust blanketed the floor while pokemon footprints trailed off in every direction. There was an unnerving buzz to tie the place together.

"Great place," Dawn squeaked out.

"It's like this place is still running..." Max said in regards to the buzz, and then looking around added, "but its probably just all the electric pokemon that are living here."

Pushing forward the trio marveled at the adapted ecosystem inside the power-plant. But the further into the plant they got, the less the saw wild pokemon.

"We must be getting close," Max concluded as he opened a door that led to the main chamber. And sure enough, roosting on fallen i-beams in the near corner of the room was Zapdos.

"It...it's beautiful," May whispered walking to take a closer look, but Max grabbed her wrist.

"Shh! We don't want to wake it. We should go to the next room and wait for the Rockets to arrive."

Dawn shook her head in agreement and pointed to the door on the side of the room opposite to Zapdos. Together all three trainers walked to the door never once taking their eyes off of the sleeping legendary bird in the corner of the room.

* * *

Only about an hour after the group had been situated in the room over from Zapdos, they heard voices.

"You there, get the Aura Infuser ready at the door so that I can bring it in when I come through the door."

"Yes sir!"

"The rest of you release your ground types as soon as you're in position."

A chorus of "Yes sir" followed.

Peering out the window May, Max, and Dawn counted five Rockets counting the blue haired leader.

Crouching back down Dawn whispered, "What's the plan?"

May looked at Max as if silently asking him the same question.

"Well, I think that if you two girls each take two grunts, I can take the leader."

The girls nodded.

As the Rockets entered the chamber each grunt released a Claydol. That's when the Max led the charge into Zapdos's chamber.

"Stop!" Max yelled.

Zapdos's eyes snapped open and realized the danger that it was in and spread it's wings, cackling with millions of volts of electricity, daring anyone to challenge it as it rose into the air.

"Quickly! Do it now!" Pierce screamed at the grunts.

Each Claydol let out a hyperbeam that hit Zapdos straight on causing it to have to land again. Max ran in front of Zapdos and released his Gardevoir and Houndoom. May released her Blaziken and Wartortle while Dawn released Piplup and Mamoswine. The two girls ordered their pokemon to attack the Claydols while they were recharging after the hyper beams.

"Blaziken Sky Uppercut, Wartortle Hydro Pump!"

"Piplup Hydropump followed by Whirlpool, Mamoswine Icebeam!"

The four powerful attacks collided with the Claydols knocking them out instantly. But the battle wasn't over yet. The four grunts released a combination of Raticates and Weezings. And the two parties engaged again.

"Move out of my way!" Pierce yelled at Max who was blocking the path to the still downed Zapdos.

"No!" Max yelled back as Zapdos began to rise again.

"Very well. I didn't want to have to resort to killing little boys, but duty calls," Pierce snarled reaching for the only pokeball at his waist.

Max watched as Pierce threw the pokeball.

"Oh no." Max whispered as Moltres's battle cry rang throughout the chamber.

"Moltres Flamethrower at the kid."

Max watched in horror as not orange, but blue flames shot towards him. In the last second Gardevoir jumped in front and used protect snapping Max out of his stupor. "Gardevoir Psybeam, Houndoom Crunch!"

Pierce laughed and didn't even issue a command. Moltres took the attacks head on unfazed. Zapdos looked on as the young trainer fought for its freedom and flew into protect him.

"No Zapdos! you stay back!" Max called out, but the bird didn't listen unleashing a massive Thunder at Moltres that made the hairs on the back of Max's neck stand up and the air smell like ozone.

The birds engaged in aerial combat, shooting powerful attacks at each other with no regard for their surroundings. The the remaining i-beams began to fall and the place began to burn. Finally, Moltres hit Zapdos in the chest with a strong Flamethrower knocking it to the ground. As soon as it touched down, Pierce unleashed the altered pokeball at the bird.

"No!" May screamed as she watched helplessly as Zapdos was caught. The grunts were down for the count but there was nothing Dawn, May, or Max could have done against Moltres. Out of the corner of her eye, May could see Dawn collapse from the smoke._ Hold yourself together_, _May_ she told herself, _Max needs me!_ But she could feel herself growing weak from smoke inhalation. Darkness began to creep into the corners of her eyes as it beckoned her to give in. She couldn't fight it anymore, _I'm sorry Max._

Max fell to his knees returning his pokemon. He had failed.

"That's right boy," Pierce said striding confidently towards Max stopping right in front of him. "You can't win. Team Rocket always gets what it wants."

Max held the man's gaze.

"Oh ho! A brave one. Well I'll make this quick then." Pierce threw an elbow and nailed Max on the side of his head knocking him out.

Stepping over the fallen boy, Pierce pulled out his phone, "Giovanni sir, target acquired."  
"Well done Pierce."

"However," Pierce began.

"However what?!"

"Three kids tried to stop us. They may be in league with the aura guardian. Should I leave them here to die?"

"Hmmm...No bring them in. We can use them to our advantage. Report back immediately!"

"Yes sir." Pierce said hanging up the phone and releasing Moltres. "Moltres, retrieve the kids and lets go," Pierce commanded as he got on the bird's back.

Crashing through the burning wall, Moltres flew off into the sky.

**That was a long chapter! but I think it turned out ok! Drop me a review and let me know what you think. Your feedback helps motivate me to write more!**

**Thanks for Reading,**

**theriot010**


	6. Chapter 6

**Just thought I'd throw this in, I don't think it was established.**

**Ages: Misty (19), Ash (19), Brock (22), May (18), Dawn (17), Max (15), Gary (19) **

**Chapter 6**

Misty and Brock awoke to a loud roar from outside the Pokemon center.

Rubbing the sleep from her eyes, Misty looked over to Ash's bed to see if he was up. But he wasn't there. Not taking her eyes off the empty bed she called out "Brock..."

"Mphhh tell that thing to be quiet, I'm tryin to sleep."

"Brock! Ash is gone."

"Hmphh he's probably just outside or something," Brock said slipping out of bed and dragging himself to the bathroom.

"You're probably right, I'm just surprised is all. He barely slept."

"If your worried why don't you go check on him then?" Brock suggested.

Misty didn't bother answering until she had gotten out of bed herself and pushed Brock out of the bathroom. "I will once I'm ready for the day."

"Hey!" Brock said as the door shut in his face.

Five minutes later Misty emerged and headed for the door. ""Bathroom's all yours," she called over her shoulder flashing a smirk.

As Misty walked out the door, she got a huge surprise, a flamethrower whizzed right over her head. The seen in front of her could only be described as bizarre. Ash was greeting his Charizard for the first time since it had decided to stay in the Charicific Valley to train back when Ash was ten. Charizard was so overjoyed at seeing his trainer that he was shooting flamethrowers in every direction, but what made this so comical was that Pikachu was perched gleefully on Charizards head, giving him a hug while accidentally covering the dragon's eyes. It made for quite the scene.

"Hey!" Misty yelled angrily after the close call with a stray flamethrower. "Watch it!"

Ash turned around sheepishly rubbing the back of his head. "Sorry Mist, he's just realllly happy to see me!"

"No offence to Charizard," she said nodding in his direction, "but what's he doing here?"

"You didn't expect us to walk to the Seafoam Islands did you?" Ash asked inquisitively.

Misty paused, "No...I guess that never really crossed my mind...so if you and me are going to ride on Charizard..." she began before quickly adding "Or you and Brock, Brock could ride with you too!"

"No that would be too heavy for Charizard. He may be a Dragon but he can only carry so much," Ash said in a matter-of-fact tone.

"Right..." Misty said shaking her head clear, "So what's Brock gonna do then? He has no flying types that can carry him."

"What about me?" Brock asked stretching as he walked through the Pokemon Center door out into the sunshine.

"Don't worry I called Professor Oak yesterday to call in a favor." Reaching down to his belt, Ash pulled out a pokeball and released another old friend. "Brock can ride Pidgeot, right buddy?"

"Pidgggeot!" He said nodding his head.

"Pika pika pikachu!" Pikachu chimed as he ran to greet one of his first friends.

"Well, no use waiting around here. We have an Articuno to protect!" Ash exclaimed swinging a leg over Charizard's back and motioning for Misty to join him. Carefully she climbed on behind him while Brock mounted Pidgeot. "Hold on tight!" Ash warned.

"Gladly," Misty sighed wrapping her arms around Ash's waist, lost in her own fantasy. But her words were lost in a torrent of wind as Charizard shot into the sky followed by Pidgeot.

* * *

The trio sped through the clouds heading straight for the Seafoam Islands. Talking was impossible due to the strong headwind that waited to push anybody's words right back where they came from. Pikachu had curled up in front of Ash where he was now sound asleep. Ash was deep inside his own head reflecting on the last encounter with team Rocket, analyzing the conversation looking for answers as to why they would be after the Legendary birds. Suddenly he felt a Misty shiver and her hands contract around his waist. Turning his head around he saw that she was fast asleep against his back. Carefully, he took off his coat without waking her and draped it over her back as best he could from his position, taking a moment to look at her face before turning forward and blushing. Looking down, he could just barely make out the outline of the Seafoam Islands in the distance.

"About 20 minutes..." Ash murmured to himself as he closed his eyes, relaxed by Misty's rhythmic breathing, and fell asleep.

* * *

A short time later, Charizard touched down and jolted Ash awake.

"Uhgggg" he moaned from his slouched over position while he rubbed his neck. Swinging his leg over his dragon's back, he began to dismount until he realized that Misty was still sleeping using his back as support. Carefully, he removed her arms from his waist and slid down Charizard's side.

"Misty," Ash said softly shaking her shoulder, "we're here. Wake up."

Groggily she opened her eyes and pulled her coat closer to block out the cold air. _Wait this isn't my coat,_ she thought realizing happily that Ash must have put his own coat around her. "Thanks for waking me," she yawned out, "and thanks for the coat but you can have it back now that we're here."

"Your welcome! But, you keep it" Ash said sheepishly diverting his gaze at the mouth of the cave, "It'll probably be cold in there. Plus I don't get cold that easily so no worries," he finished.

_Maybe he's not as dense as I thought he was..._ she thought as she slipped off Charizard's back and to the ground, closing the space between her and Ash so that their midsections were touching. They both blushed, but neither one tried to move. Misty's eyes began to widen as Ash began to do the unthinkable, smiling he began to lean in -

"Sorry to interrupt," Brock said smiling, "here's your Pidgeot," he said handing Ash the pokeball.

"You're not interrupting!" Ash hastily said backing away as he took the pokeball, then returning Charizard he thanked both for carrying them to the Seafoam Islands.

"Ok, ok, let's get moving then," Brock said taking point.

_So close! _she sighed still flushed from the thought of Ash being so close_._

* * *

Upon entering the cave, the first thing Misty noticed was that it was very cold, making her extra grateful for Ash's coat. "What exactly are we looking for?" Misty asked.

"The legend says that Articuno slumbers in a cavern in the middle of the cave system," Brock said, "I'm not sure how we're supposed to get to it though," he finished trailing off looking back at Ash who hadn't moved since arriving in the cave.

"This way," he confidently said pointing to the trail on the right.

"I will never get used to this," Misty said shaking her head as Ash led them down the path.

"What? Ash's aura using? I don't know, I'm pretty used to it by now," Brock conceded.

"No, not that, Ash leading us in the right direction..." She said shaking her head in mock disbelief.

The trio made their way through the icy cave turning left and then right and then veering to the right and then turning left again; if it weren't for Ash, they would be seriously lost. They walked for an hour until they came to an opening into a huge cavern that was lit by a bunch of holes to the outside world. It was like walking into a freezer; it was surely a surreal scene that made each trainer hold their breath in wonder. The room was covered in mist which made the streams of light seem like a natural laser security system throughout the cavern. The lights bounced off of ice crystals causing it to refract in every direction, making the mist wink and glimmer. But perhaps the most impressive part of the scene was Articuno. It slept on a platform of ice raised just above the mist, its tail wrapping around the pedestal. The bird itself appeared to be the source of the mist as it rolled down its feathers and into the pool of mist that covered the rest of the cavern. No one said anything while they drank in every detail of the majestic bird's home.

"How could anyone try to contain such a creature?" Brock asked in wonder. "This Pokemon shouldn't be in a ball or owned by anyone."

"Pika" Pikachu said nodding his head slowly in agreement. But suddenly Pikachu's ears twitched and the electric mouse stood up.

"What is it buddy?" Ash asked.

That's when the first tremor shook the whole cavern. Articuno's eyes snapped open and the pupils dilated, adjusting to the lighting. Cocking its head, it looked around the room for the source of the disturbance.

Another tremor and a few icicles fell from the ceiling.

"Guys..." Misty warned looking around the cavern warily.

One final tremor shook the cavern and Articuno spread its icy blue wings dropping the temperature of the room by 10 whole degrees, and took to the air as the ceiling over where it had been perched collapsed in a heap.

"We have to move!" Ash yelled over the deafening sound of the crumbling rock ceiling. The others nodded and ran into the mist where the ceiling had already fallen.

An enraged Articuno scanned the air looking for the culprit who destroyed its beautiful home, then locking onto a moving target, shot out a well aimed Ice Beam attack that made the target drop a couple hundred feet.

"Domino..." Ash said, eyes narrowing as her and her Salamence dropped into view.

"Ash where are you going?!" Misty called after the running Ash and Pikachu.

"We have to protect Articuno!" He yelled back over his shoulder. Then, releasing his Charizard he took to the sky.

Misty watched as he ascended, admiring his bravery until Brock brought her back to reality. "Misty! We need to go protect Articuno from the ground! Go Steelix!"

"Go Starmie!" Misty cried as she followed Brock into battle. "Starmie, I want you to use Protect on Articuno if you see an enemy attack coming ok?"

The Pokemon's center gem flashed in acknowledgement.

"Steelix use Dragon Breath on that Salamence-"

"No Brock! You could hit Ash!" Misty called out worriedly.

"Alright then, Steelix, help out Starmie!"

Meanwhile, due to its skills training in the Charicific Valley, Charizard was flying circles around Salamence, blasting Flamethrower after Flamethrower at its foe.

"Ergh," Domino coughed as a Flamethrower came dangerously close to her face then pulling up on Salamence she maneuvered around Charizard and dove straight for Articuno, loading a pokeball into a cannon strapped to her wrist. "Salamence, Dragon Breath."

The massive dragon took in a deep breath before letting out an enormous jet of off-color flame at Articuno when out of nowhere, Protect deflected the attack. Sneering at the failed attack she turned her attention to the two trainers on the ground. She smiled. "Salamence, Hyper Beam the ceiling straight ahead."

The pokemon didn't hesitate, firing a powerful beam at the remainder of the roof. Seeing its protectors in danger, Articuno swooped down and released a beam of ice stopping the roof from crushing Brock and Misty and their pokemon, but sealing them off from the battle with a 5 foot thick wall of ice.

"Hey! Leave them alone!" Ash yelled at the rocket agent.

"You shouldn't care so much about others in battle, it's quite a weakness," Domino laughed out before jumping off her Salamence to the ground. "Salamence, keep our aura using friend busy."

Salamence ascended quickly headed strait for Charizard. But Charizard was faster, flying to the side just before a powerful Giga Impact made contact. Flipping behind Salamence, Charizard let a Dragon Breath out connecting with Salamence right in the back, then barrel rolling, sped under the stunned dragon, unleashing a devestating Dragon Claw. Salamence began to drop before righting itself and charging back into battle.

Domino saw that her Salamence was clearly outmatched, scowling as he was hit from underneath with a Dragon Claw, _Where the hell did that Charizard come from!... Whatever I'm just going to have to do this fast._ Then releasing one of her pokeballs, she commanded "Gengar, Hypnosis."

Articuno's eyes began to droop, but before it fell asleep, it unleashed an Ice Beam that knocked out Gengar and threatened to hit Domino, but before it could, the bird dropped. "Goddamn bird," Domino muttered as she aimed her wrist cannon at the legend. With a pop, the pokeball fired at Articuno, rippling with dark aura.

* * *

"Pikachu," Ash screamed, "When Charizard flies overtop Salamence, I want you to drop onto its back and release a Thunder attack."

"Pika pikapi!" Pikachu said in acknowledgement.

Charizard swooped underneath Salamence, confusing the beast, and then speedily shifted its wings causing him to gain altitude so that he was right above it. Pikachu Dove onto its back and unleashed a colossal Thunder.

Salamence began to fall uncontrollably. Pikachu ran the length of the monster and jumped into the sky; an orange blur dove under him and Ash reached out and caught his friend.

"Good job buddy!" Ash enthused. "Alright Charizard, let's land." As they landed, a small item fell from Ash's backpack.

Charizard landed in front of Domino, blocking her path.

"Give up Domino. You can't win."

"Oh...But I already have," she said holding up a pokeball and returning her defeated Salamence. Then throwing the new one, Articuno appeared.

Ash was stunned, "What have you done to my friends!" he asked menacingly.

"Nothing. Articuno was so kind as to lock them out of the battle," she said pointing to the ice wall. "Iw ould have killed them, but it wasn't my choice...Anyway, I can't say the same for those other idiots who tried to stop us at the power-plant, who knows what Giovanni is going to do to them..." she smiled knowing that she would hit a nerve.

"Wha-what are you talking about..."

"We captured the resistance at the power-plant. And now that I have captured Articuno, we have all three birds. That book is ours." Then walking towards Articuno, Domino began to mount the bird.

That's when a nerve snapped in Ash. "Charizard, Flamethrower on that ice." Charizard let fly a powerful Flamethrower that melted a hole in the ice. Misty and Brock saw Domino get on the bird and begin to take off while Ash stood there in a deadly calm.

"Ash?" Misty asked tentatively.

"They have them Misty, they have May, Dawn, and Max!"

Misty covered her mouth.

"Call Gary and meet me at Mount Silver," Ash said getting back on Charizard followed by Pikachu.

"Ash where are you going?!" Brock asked.

"To save them." He said simply and then took off in a rage in pursuit of Domino and Articuno.

"It's not your fault Ash!" Misty cried out, but he was gone. "Brock we have to follow him! He's gonna get himself killed!" Misty said frantically grabbing Brock's arm and trying to pull him towards the exit.

"No, Misty. We have to trust him. We need to get Gary. He could be the difference if this turns into a giant battle."

Misty slumped down knowing he was right. "Ok." was all she could say.

That's when they heard a buzzing sound. Seeing a lit up screen, they went to see what it was.

"That IDIOT!" Misty said facepalming. "He dropped his Pokegear! How are we supposed to contact him now!"

"It's even that more important that we do as he says then," Brock said picking up the Pokegear. "Speak of the devil," he said shaking his head in disbelief before answering the call.

"Hey Ash," a voice spoke through the phone.

"It's Brock" Brock responded.

"Oh, well Ash called me a couple days ago, left a message saying it was urgent. What's the deal?"

"Well Gary, we need your help. Can you meet us at Mount Silver as soon as possible?"

"Sure."

"We will fill you in when we see you." And Brock hung up the phone.

* * *

**That's that. Good update right there. I was gonna add on the next segment, but it woulda been wayyyy too long. hahaha hope you all liked it! Please please take the time to review! It means alot to me when I hear your opinions!**

**Thanks for reading,**

**theriot010**


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

Ash urged his Charizard to fly faster as they pursued Domino and Articuno. "Come on Charizard, almost got them," he said venomously. To put it simply, Ash was seeing red. _This woman can't just come in here and threaten my friends without expecting backlash,_ Ash thought contemptuously as he charged an aura sphere.

Just a little further, Domino thought to herself before she felt Articuno jolt to the side. "Stupid bird!" Domino called out, almost falling from its back. Thats when the Rocket Headquarters came into sight. Domino smiled.

* * *

May awoke in complete darkness. Reaching down to her belt, she went to grab Blaziken's pokeball, but to her horror, it wasn't there. A pit began to form in her stomach as she remembered the events leading up to her current predicament. "Max?" She called out tentatively, "Dawn?"

No answer.

"Max?! Dawn?!" She yelled a little louder, panic starting to creep into her voice.

To her relief, she heard rustling on the other side of the cell. As she drew closer, her eyes adjusted to the dark, and she screamed. In front of her was a shirtless old man chained to the wall, his ribs nearly breaking through his skin, and his lips cracked with dehydration.

"May?!" Someone called from nearby. But she was in too much shock to move.

The man's eyes wandered the room crazily, and his feet shuffled creating the same noise that had drawn the girl over.

"Youu," he said pointing at May, "help me...help me...please help."

His pleading continued but May closed her eyes and backed slowly away, the gruesome image of the dying old man imprinted on the back of her eyelids. _These people are going to kill us_ she thought despairingly. _They wouldn't, _her rational side argued,_ were just kids_ she thought trying to calm herself.She kept moving back trying to drown out the man's pleads by focusing on her own thoughts, but they scared her even more. She continued until she backed into someones arms. She screamed again.

"May! It's me Max!" he said looking at his sister.

"Oh...Max I'm so glad to see you! Where's Dawn?" She asked throwing her arms around her brother and putting on a brave face.

"She's over there sleeping," he replied.

"Well wake her up, we need to get out of here before we end up like him," she said pointing to the man on the wall and shivering at the thought of the desperation in his eyes. Max just turned away, not wanting to have any memory of him.

May woke up Dawn and all three set to work looking for a weakness in their prison. Unfortunately, there were none. Team Rocket was very thorough when it came to securing their prisoners.

"There. Has. To. Be. A. Way!" May shouted, pounding the steel door with every word. The other two had sat down hours ago while May had kept looking.

"May, come on. Come sit down, we don't know when our next meal is going to be. Conserve your energy," Dawn said soothingly to her friend.

Nodding her head in defeat, May went and sat down next Dawn. Looking around at her brother and Dawn she noticed that even if they did find a way out of the cell, there was no way that they could escape. Dawn was covered in soot and coughing every two minutes from the smoke exposure and Max had a black eye and walked with a slight limp. Plus, none of them had their pokemon._ It's hopeless_ she thought as she succumbed to her exhaustion and fell asleep.

May was having a wonderful dream, until it took a dark turn. She had just won the Hoenn Grand Festival and everyone was chanting her name. She was just about to receive her ribbon! A short man turned around to present it when his face began to morph and change into the old man's face from the cell. The man disappeared when the ground began to shake, swallowing him whole.

"...May...May!...May wake up!"

Her eyes shot open and she realized that the earthquake hadn't been in her dream. It was real.

* * *

Domino was just about to land on the roof of the Team Rocket base when she felt her back heat up. Turning Articuno around, she saw too late what it was; the bird took a Fire Blast, Thunderbolt, and Aura Sphere right in the chest. With a scream of pain the bird crashed into the wall of the base at a boosted velocity, breaking through into a small office. Swooping in, Ash recalled his Charizard and walked over to Domino, Pikachu in wake. As he reached down to grab Articuno's pokeball, he realized his mistake, Domino backflipped up kicking Ash in the chin, knocking him back.

"Never count your opponent out until you knock them out. You're learning all sorts of lessons today!" She said sarcastically as she recalled the legendary bird. Grunts began to pour into the room but Domino called them off, telling them to bring Articuno's pokeball to Giovanni, leaving just the two of them.

Ash looked helplessly on as Articuno disappeared through the door surrounded by ten grunts.

"See, people like you need to understand that if you mess with Team Rocket, you're going to lose. We aren't afraid to do things that would make others cringe just by thinking about them. For example," she started smirking, "killing teenagers who meddle in matters bigger than them, say like those three dumbasses we captured yesterday..."

Ash's eyes widened as he realized that she was talking about May, Max, and Dawn. "You are going to regret your words," Ash said stonily causing even Pikachu to take a step back.

"Ha, I don't think you have it in y-" Domino couldn't even finish, Ash was on her faster than she could react, letting off a devastating punch to the gut that had Domino doubled over. Looking up at Ash, she gasped, he was shrouded in a blue glow. Grabbing her by both arms, Ash picked her up off the ground and roughly pinned her, cracking her head against the wall.

"I am only going to ask once before this becomes miserable for you," he spat "where are you holding them?"

Pikachu was in awe at his trainer's raw power, but frightened at the dark side of Ash that he had never shown before.

Seeing the truth behind his words, she begrudgingly said "On basement floor 2. I don't know which cell exactly."

Ash nodded. "Now let me teach you a lesson. Never underestimate your opponent," then as he was about to drop her, he turned back, "Oh, and someone once told me to never count your opponent out until you knock them out." Then he elbowed an already stunned Domino in the temple. "Goodnight." Letting go, she crumpled to the ground.

"Let's go Pikachu," Ash said. And Ash took off out the door racing to free his friends with a shocked Pikachu following close behind.

* * *

As the building shook, May, Max, and Dawn got up and went to the door looking to see what was going on. But upon reaching the door, the tremors stopped and alarms began to blare. That's when two eyes appeared in front of the door.

"Don't speak," a voice said through the grate. "I am about to let you out, but you can't make a sound and you need to trust me," with that, the door clicked open and the three prisoners saw a man in full Rocket attire holding three belts with pokeballs attached.

"Why-" May began as she clicked her Pokemon back onto her belt.

"I said don't speak! But if you must know, they killed my brother, and for that, I will do all I can to stick a bullet through their back. Let's move."

The four of them ran through the maze of cells to a staircase.

"You need to be on my ass once we leave this floor. Is that clear?"

They nodded. Then opening the door, they began to climb the stairs. But as they got close to the ground floor, they heard a bunch of yelling, and sounds of battle.

"What the fu-" Greg muttered before May yelled "Ash!"

Pikachu and Ash were fighting a group of grunts in the entrance to the stairwell, Pikachu electrocuting them, while Ash incapacitated them. Blue and yellow attacks blurred together lighting the darkened stairwell in an earthy green hue. As the last grunt fell, Ash turned to see his friends.

"May! Max! Dawn! Thank god!" But then he turned to the Rocket and started walking forward, hands bathed in blue with Pikachu a step ahead, cheeks cackling menacingly.

"Wait!" Dawn yelled, "He helped us escape!"

Ash stopped in his tracks, "One false move and you go down like the rest of them, got it?"

"Yeah." Greg said simply, unafraid of Ash.

"Good, lets get the hell out of here then," Ash said.

* * *

"Sir, should we apprehend the invaders?"

"No. I've seen what I wanted to see. Feel free to jostle them up, but let them leave. And that traitorous Rocket, he gets five steps of freedom. Understood?" Giovanni said sternly.

The grunt nodded and left.

"Ash Ketchum of Pallet town, we will meet soon. And I have a feeling that you will soon find out that we aren't all that different," he said looking at his glowing hands.

* * *

Ash led the group down vacant hallways. _Something's not right_, he thought, reaching his mind out he saw forms of Rockets walking around as if it were a normal day on the job. "They're just gonna let us leave..." Ash said out loud.

"Fine by me!" Greg said shrugging his shoulders as they broke out into the waning day.

No more than five steps and the first gunshot was heard followed by a muffled scream as Greg hit the ground face first, shot through the back.

May stopped shocked by the brutality Team Rocket showed to one of its own and turned back to help the man, when more shots were fired.

"Get to cover!" Ash yelled over the gunfire. "I'll get the Rocket." Ash turned his back on the others and ignored their protests. Putting up an aura shield, he leaned down to the bleeding man.

"What's your name? You're gonna be ok! Let's try to move you to cov-"

"My name? It doesn't matter. I'm a Rocket, no one will see through the label. I'm glad I could help your friends escape."

"Come on man! You can make it!" Ash said putting his arm under the man's shoulder to try and help him stand.

"What if I don't want to! Ok? I have nowhere to go and no one left to love. I'm closer to them this way just go!" Greg sputtered harshly, blood starting to pool on the ground.

"Ok." Ash said unable to change the dying man's mind.

Before Ash could stand and run for cover, Greg said one more thing. "You take down Giovanni before he takes you down. Got it?"

Ash nodded and then Greg's eyes rolled back into his head and he took his last breath.

Taking no time to process what he had seen, Ash took off towards the woods where his friends were waiting for him. Bullets were flying everywhere. Ash felt a searing burn across his cheek but ignored it as he reached the entrance to the woods.

"Are you guys ok?" Ash asked.

No one answered. Ash was not the same person that had left Pallet town only a week earlier. And they all saw it. _He just watched a man bleed out and the first thing he asked was if we are ok,_ Max thought to himself.

"Are you?" Ash asked again concerned.

"Y-yeah, b-but are you ok Ash?" Dawn asked shakily, staring at the blood running down Ash's cheek like fresh tears.

"Yeah I'm fine," he said wiping the blood away before turning his back to them. The safest place for them is with me Ash thought as he walked further into the woods. "Let's go, we need to be at Mount Silver as soon as we can. Team Rocket has all three legendary birds. That's where they will go next."

Had anyone been paying attention, the first thing they would have noticed was Ash's shaking hands dangling at his side and a single blood mixed tear drop to the forest floor.

* * *

**That was cool to write. Did you like the darker side of Ash? I always thought that he needed one, it makes him pretty cool. Please review! I like getting them and it makes me happy to know people are enjoying the story.**

**Thanks For Reading,**

**theriot010**


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

"Where is he?!" Misty asked irritably "And everyone else?" Her and Brock had arrived at the base of Mount Silver just over a half an hour ago. Unfortunately, neither Brock nor Misty had a flying type so they had surfed back to Cinnabar on Misty's Gyarados and called Professor Oak to have him send over Brock's recently caught Aerodactyl. The duo had silently flown towards the mountain to meet Gary, _and Ash and the others_ Misty thought.

"I don't know about everyone else," Brock said, "but I'm sure Gary has a good reason for the amount of time he's taking."

"Ok but I just don't see what's taking him so long..." And as if on cue, the two trainers heard a rustling of wings from darkening night sky.

"Sorry it took me so long," Gary began, "I was traveling from Johto."

Brock shot Misty a 'I told you so' look.

"That's a long distance even for my Dragonite! At any rate, what's so important that I needed to abandon my research?"

"Well...it's kind of a long story," Misty sighed.

"Did you and Ash finally get together?" Gary snickered not sensing the severity of the situation.

"What!? No!" Misty shouted. "You know what Gary Oak, you can just go home. We don't need your help you no good, rotten son of a-"

"Misty! No need to overreact!" Brock cut in.

Misty huffed and shot a glare Gary's direction.

"Sorry Gary," Brock said once again providing maturity in a time of need. "I'm sure that you're well aware of Ash's...task."

Gary nodded.

"Well, Ash believes that we're almost at the end."

"Are you serious?!" Gary stated shocked that it had moved so quickly. "Why do you need me then, can't you just go get the book?"

"If only it were that simple."

Gary looked at his two friends, Brock was always serious, but Misty was averting her eyes to the ground, her anger dissolving and her face contorting into a mess of emotions.

"You see, Team Rocket is also after the Book. However, they were also after the three Kanto Legendary Birds-"

"Were? You mean..."

"Yes, they captured all three."

"But why...?" Gary stonily asked.

"We don't know, but they seem to think that they need them to get the Book."

"Ok, this is all well and good but what can I do to help, I mean no offence, but if Team Rocket has all three Legendaries, we really stand no chance in a confrontation - which is where this is leading, am I right?" Gary asked perceptively.

"Yes. However, Misty and I have thought about that. While Ash may have told us to sit tight and contact you, we all know he isn't very forward thinking." At that Misty gave a small tilted smile.

Brock continued. "We have contacted Officer Jenny in Viridian city who has contacted the rest of the force and the Gym leaders of the region. They will be arriving in the next couple of hours. By the time Ash gets here-"

"And he will get here." Misty cut in fiercely as if her statement would abolish all her doubts.

"Of course," Brock said reassuringly, "He will have a small army at his back."

Gary smirked, "Well I stand corrected, maybe we do stand a chance."

* * *

May, Dawn, and Max followed closely behind Pikachu and Ash who led them through the dense forest between the Rocket base and the rendezvous point he had set with Misty and Brock.

"Ash," Dawn inquired soothingly, "it's getting pretty dark. Maybe we should stop for the night?"

"It wouldn't make sense, we're almost there," Ash said almost monotone.

"How can you even tell?" Max frustratingly snapped.

The four of them and Pikachu had been walking since their easy escape from Team Rocket. Well, easy in the sense that they had essentially walked out unapprehended. However, the moment they stepped out the door, guns had gone off. Luckily, none of them had been harmed except for a man named Greg who had helped them escape. Greg had died right in front of Ash as he tried to rescue the escaped rocket.

Turning to face his friends, the woods around them became illuminated in a faint blue glow emanating from Ash's eyes. "This is how." He said rather harshly.

"Ok, no need to get snippy," May said, "It's been a... a long day."

Ash sighed.

"I'm sorry Max, I didn't mean to yell," he said dejectedly, angry that he had taken up that tone with his friends. As soon as he uttered the last word of his apology, he saw lights shimmering through the dense forest.

"Are those lights?" Dawn asked surprised.

"Yeah those are lights!" Max yelled as he took off with the others close behind.

Breaking through the treeline, the group stopped dead in their tracks.

"I can't believe I couldn't sense this..." Ash said stunned.

Max looked up at him, "From what I understand, your Aura usage isn't unlimited, you probably just need to recharge so to speak."

"Yeah I guess," Ash replied already knowing that was the reason.

"OH THANK GOD!"

The group of trainers turned to see Misty, Brock, Gary, and Officer Jenny.

"Good to see you Ashy boy."

"Likewise Gary."

As Ash ran through their escape, leaving out Greg entirely, Officer Jenny's eyes began to widen. "So...So aura...it's not a myth?"

Before Ash could even begin to respond Misty whirled on her, "Of course it isn't! Are you calling us liars!? There's a lot at stake tomorrow!"

"Misty. It's ok. Calm down." Then addressing the rest of his friends, "Can you all leave me here with Jenny, we have some things to discuss." As the crowd dissipated, they could see flashes of blue and the policewoman nodding in awe.

* * *

"Dr. Yung. So good of you to come see me. I gather you have wonderful news to share with me?"

The doctor nodded vigorously.

"So go on then. Don't keep me waiting. I don't like waiting," Giovanni said chiding the Doctor.

Finding his voice, Dr. Yung delivered the news. "The device is completed. You will be able to harness the power of the Legendary trio by condensing ice, electricity, and fire into one solid beam of energy 100X more powerful than a Hyperbeam."

"Well done," Giovanni said as Dr. Yung dropped what looked like a silver necklace with a diamond in the center down on the desk. "What's this?"

"That's it."

"It's even better than I expected! How does it work?" Giovanni asked barely able to contain his excitement.

"It recognizes the DNA of each bird. Upon recognition, the three charms, which are made out of silicon coated nanites, will enlarge and surround each bird. The power will be drawn into the diamond suspended in the center. Once that is complete, you can draw it back like a slingshot, aim, and fire. You have one shot per charge."The doctor smirked knowing that he had surpassed expectations.

"Excellent. You're services are no longer needed. Since I am a man of my word, You will receive payment immediately and your wife will be set free. It has been a pleasure doing business with you."

* * *

Ash made his way from fire to fire looking for his friends. Pikachu had wandered off a while back leaving Ash alone. _I can't believe the support I'm getting_ he thought, _Actually, I can't believe that these people believe that all this is real!_ But after explaining and demonstrating to Officer Jenny, she had gone and briefed her forces and the Gym Leaders. Looking around, Ash could make out a good twenty five to thirty fires, each seemingly sending smoke signals to the heavens asking for some sort of miracle to be performed during tomorrow's impending battle.

Ash rounded one of the last fires and sat down with his friends. They greeted him with small nods, each mesmerized by the flame dancing before them.

"So," Gary said breaking the silence, "what's stopping us from walking into that mountain right now and taking that book?"

"Gary, you're a smart guy, you know why we can't do that," Ash said quietly.

"The three fates."

Ash nodded.

"Grandpa was right," Gary said.

"He was. And its unfortunate that Team Rocket had placed capturing Articuno, Zapdos, and Moltres so high on their list of things to do, but to be truthful, if they hadn't done that, we would be months, maybe years away from completing Sir Aaron's quest," Ash said trying to find the bright side of things.

"So what is the plan?" Brock asked.

Ash sat and stared at the fire blanking his face of emotion before answering. "Tomorrow, we fight with everything we have to stop team Rocket from acquiring the Book. I've seen first hand how cruel they are to their own kind, shooting a once loyal man straight through the back. I don't even want to think about what they would do to the rest of the world. Remember to look out for each other because in the end, that's all we have." He paused, his face regaining emotion. "It's probably best if we all get some sleep," he finished quietly.

Getting up, Ash motioned for Pikachu to follow while the rest of his friends watched him walk away in shock from the out of character outburst.

* * *

Later that evening, not so long after Ash and Pikachu had returned from their walk, the two friends sat side by side conversing quietly with each other illuminated by the dying embers of the fire and the warm glow of the moon. Misty watched them wondering what they were talking about. Ash's close bond with Pokemon had gotten him out of quite a few dangerous situations before, but tomorrow, he most likely wouldn't be relying on his Pokemon. He would have to rely on his own fighting skills and aura. _He may not come back_. That thought kept resonating in her head like a loud alarm every time she closed her eyes. Making a decision, she got up from her sleeping bag, and began to cross the distance between her and Ash. A warm breeze slid across her skin reminding her that she was clad in only blue shorts that reached her upper thigh and a low cut silk tank top, both of which left little to the imagination. She kept her movement steady anyway as she crept up on Ash until she was directly behind him. Bending down, she could see a fresh gash across Ash's cheek. Slowly, she reached her hand out and ran a finger along the length of the cut.

He shuddered.

"Ash, where did this come from?" she asked.

Pikachu, sensing the situation, stretched and then disappeared among the sleeping masses.

"A gun." He stated simply.

Misty flinched. "Can't you fix it with your aura or something?"

"I used up too much today and besides, I want to keep it as a reminder."

"A reminder of what?" She asked incredulously.

"That I'm still human."

"Of course you're human!" Misty said lightly trying not to kill the mood.

"Misty," Ash said still staring into the pulsating embers, "I watched a man die today."

"Oh Ash-"

"But, you know what? That wasn't what bothered me. I wanted to feel sad, to feel grief or anger. But I couldn't. He was a Rocket and I couldn't see through that... until I got to cover and felt my own blood and pain. That's when I remembered that that man was still a human and he deserved better. I should have tried to save him even though he didn't want me to. What I did - that's what he expected. I'm no better than the Rocket who shot him."

Silence.

Carefully, Misty turned Ash's face so that he was looking right at her. "If that's what you truly believe Ash, then why are you still here?"

No answer.

"That's what I thought," she whispered.

Then calmly she leaned in and kissed him, slowly at first, but then all of her pent up feelings began to bubble to the surface. She desperately wanted to be closer to him. Two strong arms wrapped around her waist and Ash lightly guided her so that she was straddling his midsection. He felt her legs tighten behind his back as she deepened the kiss leaving no space between them. Her mind became completely vacant as Ash's hands began to roam. Pulling back slightly, she ran her hands up his stomach and over his chest, feeling his muscular frame tense at her touch, before they found their place around his neck. She sighed contentedly as she felt his hands glide up her back and then back down to her waist pulling her closer.

Misty didn't want the moment to end, but dawn was drawing nearer, and they both needed to sleep. Reluctantly she drew back letting her hands float to Ash's face. Gently, she made him stare her right in her moonlit cerulean eyes. "You are just as human as any other person on this planet. We all have temptations that only become stronger under pressure. It's if we choose to continue to fight them that separates the good and evil. And Ash, you keep on fighting. You're a good human being. You always have been and you always will be," she finished leaning in and giving him another kiss, though this time she didn't let her emotions get the best of her.

That's when Ash spoke. "You're right."

Misty smiled and leaned her forehead against his, "of course I am!"

"And modest," Ash joked giving her a peck on the cheek, "but Misty, seriously, thank you. I- I don't know what's going to happen tomorrow, but in the case that something bad happens, I want you to know that I-"

"I know Ash me too." She said kissing him for a third time feeling happier than she ever had. "But we should really get some sleep."

Agreeing with Misty, Ash allowed her to lead him to his sleeping bag. However, even after he had laid down, she didn't leave. She cuddled up next to him as if she was used to it.

"Goodnight Ash. I love you."

"Love you too."

"Pika pika!"

Ash chuckled, "You too Pikachu."

And they fell asleep, not thinking about what tomorrow would bring.

**So, yeah, I hope you liked this chapter. I liked it haha The next chapter may be the last one. I'm not positive. Please let me know what you think! It motivates me and makes me feel a certain drive that I can not explain. Stay tuned for the battle. **

**Thanks for reading,**

**theriot010**


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